REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, SIMPANG AMPEK -- Flash floods ravaged four villages in Lembah Melintang and Ranah Batahan sub-districts, West Pasaman District, West Sumatra Province, on Wednesday (26/11).
"The floods have been triggered as a result of the Batang Bayang and Batang Sikabau rivers overflowing due to incessant heavy rains," Head of the West Pasaman Police Resort Adjunct Senior Commissioner Sofyan Hidayat stated here on Wednesday.
Some 550 families have been evacuated as the floodwaters, reaching a height of up to 80 centimeters, inundated their houses.
The evacuation was carried out the local police and military personnel and the staff of the local disaster mitigation office.
Floods also inundated Jorong Maligi in Sasak sub-district and Nagari Batang Saman in Pasaman sub-district.
As Indonesia has begun experiencing heavy rains, several provinces of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, West Sumatra, North Sumatra, Riau, and Bengkulu on Sumatra Island, and Jakarta and West Java on Java Island, have reported floods.
Since October 2014, floods and landslides have killed three people in West Sumatra Province and affected several villages in the districts of Pesaman, Sijunjung, Padang city, Solok, Pesisir Selatan, and South Solok.
On Nov. 21, two children were killed in a landslide that hit Jorong Ranah Pinago village, Sijunjung. The landslide was triggered by incessant torrential rains that started on Nov. 20, 2014.
Earlier, on Nov. 13, a flash flood struck Koto Kaciak Village in Pasaman District, killing a local resident.
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