Floods Inundate 18 Villages Across Nine Districts in Aceh Tamiang

Flooding has submerged 18 villages in nine districts of Aceh Tamiang regency, Aceh, after heavy rain overnight triggered rivers to burst their banks, the local disaster agency reported Monday. Iman Suhery, head of the Aceh Tamiang Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), said Tenggulun district was the worst hit with five affected villages. The flooding followed downpours that began Sunday night and also caused embankments to collapse at several points, sending water into residential areas.

The nine districts listed by the agency's operations control center are Tenggulun, Kejuruan Muda, Karang Baru, Bendahara, Bandar Pusaka, Tamiang Hulu, Seruway, Rantau and Kualasimpang. In Tamiang Hulu, hundreds of residents from Rongoh and Bandar Khalifah villages have been evacuated as water levels reached between 1 and 1.5 meters. In Tenggulun, the road to Simpang Kiri village is completely impassable to both motorcycles and cars because of deep water and drifting debris, according to the BPBD.

In the central part of the regency, the Karang Baru-Kuala Simpang area has been particularly hard hit, with Sukajadi and Tanjung Karang villages among the worst affected, Suhery said. Both villages sit on the banks of a river, and the grounds of a Islamic boarding school were also inundated. A mosque at the Darul Mukhlisin boarding school in Tanjung Karang, Karang Baru district, was reported under 50 centimeters of water.

Joint teams from the BPBD, the fire and rescue service and the SAR task force remain in the field to carry out assessments, record material losses and help evacuate affected residents, Suhery said. The agency has also brought in heavy equipment to close the breached embankments in an effort to stop the damage and flooding from spreading further. No casualty figures were immediately reported.