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everal regions in Sumatra and Java that have been severely hit by natural disasters have yet to recover while landslides in North Sulawesi have caused blackouts that have affected thousands of residents.

Flooding in dozens of villages in Aceh Singkil regency in Aceh has eased, but some areas remain isolated as roads and bridges have been severely damaged by floodwater and landslides.

As a result, four-wheel or larger vehicles have not been able to enter Singkil, the regency’s capital,
since last week as a result of a damaged bridge.

“We are looking at making a makeshift bridge pending the shipment of materials from [provincial capital] Banda Aceh,” said Aceh Singkil Public Works Agency head Muzni on Thursday.

Some local residents tried to repair the damage using coconut tree trunks, making the bridge passable for motorcycles.

“Food and aid for displaced people is being distributed,” he said.

Twenty-one elementary and high schools are inundated and have suspended classes.

Floodwater also damaged 13 electric poles, causing blackouts in hundreds of households.

A natural disaster also caused a blackout in Gorontalo, after a high voltage transmission tower collapsed in Isimu on Wednesday evening during a landslide.

The incident has disrupted the North Sulawesi-Gorontalo power network that supplies electricity to a number of regencies in both provinces, the spokesman for state-run electricity company PLN’s North Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi and Gorontalo area, Jantje Rau, said on Thursday.

Some areas, such as Pohuwatu and Boalemo, are temporarily being served by the Marisa diesel power plant and the Gorontalo gas-fueled power plant.

BX Wahyu Catur, the distribution manager of PLN Suluttenggo, said rolling blackouts in some areas, including big cities such as
Manado, Gorontalo and Kotamobagu, were inevitable. More than 5,000 customers are affected in the three cities.

Meanwhile, crops on 2,000 hectares of land in dozens of villages in Sragen and Sukoharjo, Central Java, were destroyed by floodwater from the Bengawan Solo River.

Hundreds of farmers, mostly rice growers, claimed total losses of Rp 12 billion (US$890,000) due to harvest failure, according to data from the Sragen farm field supervisor.

“My crops died after my farm was inundated at a depth of up to 1 meter for two days,” a Sragen farmer, Radiman, 45, said.

Meanwhile, search and rescue personnel have found two bodies of passengers of a boat that capsized in Riau waters on Wednesday.

The dead victims were M. Syairozi, 32, from Mandailing Natal regency in North Sumatra, and Julianto, 31, from Indragiri Hulu regency in Riau.

Two other passengers, Nur, 34, and an 11-month old baby, are still missing.

The boat, which was traveling from Tanjung Batu, Riau Islands, to Pangkalan Kerinci in Pelalawan regency, Riau province, on Wednesday afternoon, capsized as it battled high waves, according to witnesses.

The boat, owned by Gertiga Express, was carrying 23 passengers and three crew members.
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Ganug Nugroho Adi and Rizal Harahap contributed to the story from Surakarta and Pekanbaru.