"At least 113 houses were submerged and six of them were destroyed but no casualty," a spokesman of the regional Disaster Control Agency (BPBD) Heny Tonga said via telephone on Tuesday.
Heny said the sea water surface rose by as high as four meters that the local villagers had been warned of emergency at least until February 16.
She said the floods of sea water had hit the villages of Soa Sio and Barataku in the sub-district of Galela, but it is not impossible other villages have also been flooded with sea water.
BPBD, therefore, had warned all coastal villages in Ternate and nearby islands to be ready for evacuation.
Villagers said they were overwhelmed by panic that many of them ran to higher areas as the water surface rose fast smashing the break water at the bus terminal in Galela.
The Meteorology office of Ternate also warned of strong winds and high sea waves in North Maluku .(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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