High Tide Flooding Forces 1,931 To Flee In Riau

Pekanbaru, Riau (Antarariau.com) - High tide flooding forced a total of 1,931 people to flee their home in the Riau provincial capital of Pekanbaru, the city natural disaster mitigation agency (BPBD) said.

"They are being sheltered in tents that we have put up in flood-free grounds," spokesman for the BPBD, Ibas Sembiring said here on Tuesday.

The high tide flooding has affected a number of places located on the Siak riverbank in the past week.

Ibas said the flood is an annual cycle.

The flood is the biggest that has ever hit the areas.

Most of the evacuees are residents of Witayu housing complex which was hit the hardest by the flood, with flood water reaching one meter deep.

"The flood is inundating 375 houses there. Some 1,500 residents have fled their flooded houses and are being sheltered at the tents we have prepared," he said.

The high tide flooding also affected a residential area in Air Hitam at Riau Ujung Street, with at least 15 houses flooded, he said.

Meanwhile, flood affected a total of 431 people living in Bambu Kuning area after Kampar river overflowed.