Lebak, Banten province (ANTARA News) - About 2,231 hectares of paddy field in Lebak district, Banten, are inundated by floods following heavy rain that hit the area during the past days, district`s Chief of Agricultural Affairs Dede Supriyatna said here on Tuesday.

He noted the impacted paddy field are inundated by 1 to 1.5 meters high water from the overflowing river located next to it.

"We have reported this incident to related officers at local and central government institutions," he said adding that farmers may loss million Rupiah due to the flood.

Meanwhile Suryadi, a local resident expressed concern about the 70 meters-high flood that`s already inundated his paddy field.

"The paddy will die if it is inundated for more than seven days," he said.

Apart from damaging paddy field, flood in Lebak district recently has killed five people.

Four of the five victims were swept away by flood water and another was buried in a landslide, Head of the Lebak District Natural Disaster Mitigation Board (BPBD) Muklis.

The bodies of the five dead victims had been buried, he said.

He said the floods also inundated a total of 7,450 houses, and destroyed 280 roads and bridges.

"I think the number of houses destroyed by landslides may increase as we are waiting for reports in the field," he said.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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