"The thousands of houses are flooded 1 to 3 meters deep," Head of the North Barito District Natural Disaster Mitigation Board (BPBD) Guntur Pardede said on Sunday.
The flood water was inundating not only houses along the river`s bank but also houses in Muara Taweh city, leaving a trade center paralyzed as shops and other buildings were closed.
The local government has raised the flood status to emergency response from disaster.
"The regional government has begun distributing relief aid among flood victims through subdistrict heads and village heads. We also have received aid from a number of companies to be distributed among flood victims," he said.
He said the flood triggered by heavy rains in the upper reach of the river in Murung Raya district also inundated 61 school buildings, places of worship, public health service posts, 25 bridges, and 10-km section of roads in the city.
It also inundated 2,753 hectares of paddy fields in the Subdistricts of Taweh Tengah, Teweh Baru, Teweh Selatan and Montallat.
"No casualties have been reported, while the amount of losses is being computed," he said.
(S012)
Editor: Jafar M Sidik
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