Heavy floods and landslides in Indonesia over the week

Heavy rains over the past weeks have caused floods and landslides in various parts of Indonesia, causing heavy economic losses.

Java
Floodwaters engulfed several villages in Kroya district, Cilacap regency-Central Java, destroying 450 hectares of almost-harvested rice crops. While in East Java floods due to the overflowing of the Bengawan Solo River has submerged 1,730 hectares of rice fields in 61 villages in Bojonegoro district. The area of flooded rice fields might widen in the days ahead as the river was continuing to overflow. In Surakarta-Central Java, 500 residents in Joyotakan got ready to flee their homes as the nearby Bengawan Solo River burst its banks and flooded some homes with water as high as 1.5 meters. Surakarta city remained on high alert after water engulfed most of the city. Besides flooding, the heavy rains also triggered landslides in several regencies.

In Madiun-East Java landslide happened in Kepel village on Friday, 30 January 2009 destroyed one house and killed one person. The landslide occur at the hill slope of the Wilis Mountain region, the area consists of andesitic breccias bedrock, weathered into soil in silt-clay size, medium plasticity with 2-5 m thickness. The landslide triggered by the morphology, lithology and bad drainage condition during the heavy rain prior to the landslide.

While in Karanganyar-Central Java, on Friday, 30 January 2009 landslide hit Nglegok village and killed 6 people. The landslide occurs at the hill slope of the Lawu Mt region which consists of tufa andesitic breccias bedrock, weathered into soil in sand-silt-clay size. The landslide triggered by the morphology, lithology and the heavy rain several days prior to the landslide.
In Kebumen and Sruweng-Central Java, on Friday, 30 January 2009 landslide hit Penusupan village and destroyed 6 houses.

In Banyumas-Central Java, landslides destroyed at least 15 homes on Sunday February 1, 2009 in the villages of Cihonje, Telaga and Paningkaban, in Gumelar district.

Sulawesi
Several districts and cities in South Sulawesi Province were hit by floods, submerging residential areas, farm land, fish ponds, and cacao plantations

In Malino, Gowa District, a landslide killed one person and in Takalar District a flood claimed another life on Sunday, February 1, 2009 while in North Luwu, a number of houses and hundreds of hectares of cacao plantations were flooded. Some 200 families were forced to flee to higher ground in Makassar due to the flood. Meanwhile, floods have inundated at least 100 houses and hectares of paddy fields in Gowa since 26 January 2009. In Malo sub district of the province, some 250 families were forced to evacuate to safer areas due to the floodwaters reaching a height of more than one meter in their residential areas.

Sources : Metro TV, Kompas, Geological Agency of Republic of Indonesia