Jakarta (ANTARA) - Investigators from National Police's Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) are in South Kalimantan province to probe the cause of large-scale flooding in 10 districts and cities in the province.
As part of their probe, the investigators have learned from the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) that the flooding was caused by high rainfall coupled with high tides.
"Based on information received from the harbormaster, the flooding was caused by a 2-2.5 meter sea tide. That is the cause of the flooding in South Kalimantan," chief of the public information service for the National Police, Senior Commissioner Ahmad Ramadhan, said here on Friday.
Floodwaters reaching a height of 2 meters inundated 87,765 homes in 11 districts and cities in the province, forcing 74,863 people to flee their homes. The flood claimed 21 lives.
Many facilities and infrastructures were damaged in the flooding, while the Trans Kalimantan highway was cut off and school buildings and places of worship damaged.
President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) said the large-scale flooding in 10 districts and cities in South Kalimantan is the first to have occurred in the past 50 years.
"Today, I am reviewing the situation of flooding in nearly 10 districts and cities in South Kalimantan province. This is a type of major flooding that had not occurred in South Kalimantan province for over 50 years," Widodo said in Pekauman village, East Martapura district, Banjar Regency, South Kalimantan, earlier this week.
