February 13, 2025
JAKARTA – Several regions of South Sulawesi were hit by massive flooding on Tuesday after days of torrential rains that led to three rivers bursting their banks, forcing thousands of people to evacuate to safer areas.
The flood affected provincial capital Makassar as well as Maros and Gowa regencies, and prompted authorities to release water from Gowa’s Bilibili Dam with an overflow rate reaching 1,000 cubic meters per second, official data showed.
Flooding also shut down more than 450 electricity substations in the province, leaving around 23,600 homes without power.
In hardest-hit Maros regency, flooding affected more than 100,000 people in 14 districts, with some areas recording a maximum flood depth of 1 meter.
Maros Regent Chaidir Syam ordered that all local government buildings be opened to shelter evacuees, and to set up emergency kitchens at district offices.
He also ordered the temporary closure of all schools in the regency and civil servants to work from home.
Floodwaters around 50 centimeters deep covered Jl. Trans Sulawesi, a major road connecting Maros and Makassar, trapping motorists for up to five hours on Tuesday evening.
One motorist, Saharuddin, said he spent the night in his car because he couldn’t pass the flooded road.
“I’ve been trapped since last night and as of Wednesday morning, the floodwater on the road still reached up to the hips,” he said, as quoted by Kompas.com.
Towadeng, head of the Maros Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD), said this was the second massive flooding to strike the regency in three months.
“We also experienced significant flooding in December 2024, but this flood is deeper and more widespread compared to last year’s. We are working with the Maros Social Agency and the Search and Rescue Agency to evacuate affected residents,” he said.
In Makassar, four districts recorded floodwaters 10-70 cm deep, which forced more than 2,100 residents to flee their homes.
BPBD Makassar has set up 24 temporary shelters across the city, including at mosques, schools and gymnasiums.
Meanwhile, six districts in Gowa regency, including Bontonompo, Tinggimoncong and Parangloe, have experienced flooding, strong winds and landslides in the past few days. Floodwaters, ranging from 50 cm to 170 cm deep, inundated dozens of homes in the area.
Acting South Sulawesi governor Fadjry Djufry declared a state of emergency on Wednesday in response to the widespread flooding.
Fadjry also promised to find “permanent solutions” to prevent recurrent flooding in the province.
“Affected residents told me that flooding occurs almost every year, and this flood is even worse than last year,” he said, echoing the words of Maros’s disaster agency head.
“We must implement integrated and comprehensive measures if we don’t want to see flooding every rainy season,” Fadjry said, as quoted by Antara.
A series of hydrometeorological disasters have struck several regions over the past few months due to the La Niña weather phenomenon, which has brought high-intensity rainfall and a wetter rainy season to the country.
The South Sulawesi branch of the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) forecast moderate to heavy rainfall would continue for the next three days, particularly in the northern part of the province.
The agency has predicted significantly lower-intensity rainfall in the coming days in the province’s west, where many of the currently flooded regions are located.
It also warned of an increased risk of landslides in South Sulawesi’s northern highlands.