Hijjah 29, 1431 / Dec. 05, 2010, SPA -- Floods inundated tens of houses at five villages in Banyumas district, Central Java, on Sunday due to the overflowing of Bener river. "We cannot yet ascertain how many houses have been inundated as we are still counting them. But if we look at the similar happening in the middle of 2009 the number of flooded houses is estimated to run into 50," ANTARA quoted Head of the Banyumas District Natural Disaster Mitigation Office (BPBD) Ariono Purwanto as saying. The flooded houses were located along the river which flows through Karangpucung, Teluk, Karangrau, Karangnanas, and Kalibagor villages, he said. He said the water level in the area close to the river reached two meters high but the average height of floodwater in other flood-hit areas was one meter. "The river overflowed at around 05.00 p.m. following heavy rains. Right now (08.00 p.m.) the floodwater began to recede," he said. Scores of residents whose houses were flooded had evacuated to their neighbors' and relatives' houses, he said. He said rescue workers had been pulled out from flood-affected areas. "The floods did not lead to massive evacuation so we pulled out all rescue workers who had been fielded to flood-affected areas," he said.
