FLOODS SUBMERGE 1,730 HA OF RICE FIELDS IN BOJONEGORO

Bojonegoro, East Java, Feb. 2 (ANTARA)- Floods due to the overflowing of the Bengawan Solo river has submerged 1,730 hectares of rice fields in 61 villages in Bojonegoro district, over the past two days.

The area of flooded rice fields might widen in the days ahead as the river was continuing to overflow, Parwoto, head of Bojonegoro district's agricultural office said here on Monday.
If the flood waters continued to cover the paddies for four or five more days, the rice plants would be permanently spoiled, he said.
The worst flood-affected rice fields were located in the sub districts of Margomulyo, Kalitidu, Trucuk, Kota, Balen, Kapas, and Kanor.
In Malo sub district, some 250 families were forced to evacuate to safer areas due to the floodwaters reaching a height of more than one meter in their residential areas.
Around 350 residents of Semanding Village, Kapas sub districts, took refuge at emergency camps due to the flooding.
The current rainy season has triggered floods and landslides in various parts of Indonesia, including in East Java, Central Java, West Java, South Sulawesi, East Kalimantan, and Aceh provinces.
La Nina, which is developing into Northern Hemisphere Spring 2009, is expected to cause above-average precipitation over Indonesia, during January-March 2009, according to the US NOAA's Climate Prediction Center (CPC) recently.