Flash floods, reaching a height of up to four meters, were triggered by the Laju, Silo, Soa, Raba Baka, and Toi rivers overflowing their banks following incessant downpours.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Floods have submerged thousands of houses in Dompu and Bima districts of West Nusa Tenggara Province.

The regional disaster mitigation offices of Bima and Domu, with the assistance of the military and police personnel, have set up flood emergency command posts and evacuated flood victims to safer places, a spokesman of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBN) noted in a statement on Sunday.

In Dompu, some four thousand houses in 10 villages in Dompu and Woja sub-districts were flooded, remarked Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.

Flash floods, reaching a height of up to four meters, were triggered by the Laju, Silo, Soa, Raba Baka, and Toi rivers overflowing their banks following incessant downpours.

The flood-affected villages in Dompu sub-district were Bada, Potu, and Karijawa, while Simpasai, Kandai II, and Waonduru villages in Woja sub-district were inundated by the floods.

Floodwaters also submerged Dompu Public Hospital, forcing the evacuation of all patients to higher grounds.

In Bima district, Delu and Jala villages in Bolo sub-district and Monggo village in Madapangga sub-district were inundated following incessant heavy rains since Saturday (Jan. 31).

Bima District Head Syafrudin HM Nur had visited the flood victims.

Relief aid in the form of instant food, blankets, and necessities for infants was sent to the flood victims.

Currently, several provinces are experiencing flooding and landslides as the rainy season peaks between January and February.

"As predicted earlier, floods will continue to intensify as we enter January. Rainy season in January has the potential to trigger floods and landslides," Nugroho stated recently.

The National Meteorological, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has forecast very high-intensity rains to potentially occur in January-February 2015, in Central Javas northern coastal areas, western and southern Banten, Aceh, South Sulawesi, Gorontalo, North Sulawesi, Papua and West Papua. (*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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