No report was received of damage. Efforts have been made to evacuate the affected residents to safer areas. The refugees' requirements, including of food items and medicines, are also being fulfilled
Makassar, S Sulawesi (ANTARA) - Some 3,143 residents have taken refuge at various mosques and their relatives' houses, as floods swamped several areas in the South Sulawesi provincial capital of Makassar.

"Thousands of residents have been evacuated to higher and safer ground due to floods triggered by incessant heavy rains in the past few days," Head of the South Sulawesi Provincial Disaster Mitigation Board (BPBD) Ni'mal Lahamang stated here on Wednesday.

Several residents chose to not budge from their flooded homes, he remarked.

"No report was received of damage. Efforts have been made to evacuate the affected residents to safer areas. The refugees' requirements, including of food items and medicines, are also being fulfilled," he stated.

Preliminary data from the BPBD indicated that 1,264 refugees come from the Regional Military Command III in Paccerakkang, Biringkanaya Sub-district, and 400 from the BTP housing complex Blok AF.

In Biringkanaya Sub-district, the refugee count reached 448, of which 207 are being sheltered at the Grand Rahmani Mosque, 26 at the Grand Mutiara Paccerakang, and 75 at the Maryam Bin Imran Mosque BTP AF.

The floodwaters reached between 50 cm to 100 cm in height. (INE)

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Translator: M Darwin Fatir/Suharto
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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