Timika, Papua (ANTARA News) - Two days of incessant rains in Mimika District, Papua Province, resulted in several rivers overflowing and floodwaters submerging Karang Senang, Kuala Kencana, and Kwamki Narama areas and hundreds of houses.

The floods, caused by the overflowing of several rivers in the areas, have inundated numerous villages and hundreds of houses, with floodwaters reaching a height of up to 50 centimeters, spokesman of the Mimika district government Ausilius stated.

"Many houses were built right near the rivers, and thus, the floods inundated those houses easily," he noted here on Friday.

Ausilius remarked that the residents whose homes were flooded on Friday were still waiting for the floodwaters to recede, but they did not evacuate to safer places.

The local government is yet to take strategic steps to deploy heavy equipment, such as excavators, in order to normalize the flow of the rivers.

Flooding in the Karang Senang Village also inundated an elementary school and forced the students to skip their studies.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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