"As of Monday, there were 5,242 families or around 24,321 people, who were affected by the severe flooding," said Rosiana Kusuma Wardani, head of the agency`s emergency operation center, here on Monday.
The sub-districts of Singkil, Simpang Kanan, and Gunung Meriah, were noted as the hardest hit areas. In Singkil sub-district alone, a total of 21,081 people from 16 villages suffered the impact of the floods, she said.
Then, 3,199 others reside in the six villages of Simpang Kanan sub-district and in the five villages of Gunung Meriah sub-district, she said, adding that most of the disaster zones are located near the Mount Leuser National Park areas.
The flooding also inundated several other sub-districts, including Singkil Utara, Danau Paris, Suro, Singkohor, and Kota Baharu, but the number of those affected was relatively small, she said.
However, heavy rainfall affecting different parts of Aceh Singkil district over the past two days did not only result in flooding but it also triggered a landslide in Situbuh-Tubuh village, Danau Paris sub-district.
The landslide buried the house of a family with eight members, and also cut off road access connecting the villages in Aceh Singkil district to the areas of Central Tapanuli district, North Sumatra Province, Wardani said.
As of Monday afternoon, vehicles could not use the disrupted road. The floods had submerged two villages in Singkil Utara and Singkil sub-districts, while the floods in five other sub-districts had receded, she said.
The Aceh Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) had warned last week that bad weather would hit several parts of Aceh Province over these past few days as a result of the tropical cyclone in the Bay of Bengal.
The areas that might severely suffer from the impact of this tropical cyclone were the districts of Aceh Singkil, South Aceh, Aceh Jaya, and Nagan Raya, as well as North Aceh, East Aceh, and Aceh Tamiang, the agency`s spokesman, Zakaria Ahmad, said.
The flooding and landslide did not only hit Aceh Province but also Mandailing Natal District in North Sumatra Province.
The death toll from the floods and landslides that hit Mandailing Natal (Madina) District had risen to 17 on Sunday.
A joint search and rescue (SAR) team comprising military, police personnel and volunteers evacuated 17 bodies, Muhammad Yasir, head of the Madina disaster mitigation office, said.
Of the 17 casualties, 12 were elementary school students in Ulu Pungkut sub-district, three were workers repairing a road culvert in Mura Batang Gadis district, and two were people whose car plunged into the Aek Batang Gadis river during flooding.
Reporting by Muhammad Said
Editing by Rahmad Nasution
Reporter: antara
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
