Slamet Susanto, Surakarta – Flooding caused by an overflowing Bengawan Solo River paralyzed business activity along the Central Java-East Java border Saturday, with transportation routes blocked and shops forced to close.
On Saturday morning, hundreds of trucks, buses and cars were trapped in a traffic jam that extended from Padangan district in Bojonegoro, East Java, to Cepu district in Central Java.
"I was trapped on Ronggolawe road in Cepu and finally made it out of the traffic jam after five hours," said truck driver Syafi'i, 45, who was delivering poultry vaccines from Jakarta to Surabaya.
Ketapang area in Cepu was inundated up to one meter deep, leading truck drivers to avoid the area. However, they could not use alternative routes along the northern and southern Java coasts since both were also flooded.
The Jakarta-Surabaya train route was also flooded along a six to eight kilometer stretch of railway.
Head of Cepu railway station, Ngadimin, said the route was moved to the south lanes, passing through Gundih, Solo and Madiun stations, up to Surabaya.
"Trains cannot pass through Cepu because the water has exceeded the maximum level of 14 centimeters," Ngadimin said.
Government officers, police and military troops continued to evacuate residents still struggling to stay in their homes, calling on them to leave for safer areas.
As of Saturday afternoon, water had began to recede in Kudus, Central Java, but evacuators anticipated another flood in the near future.
Data from the Wregu Wetan Kudus evacuation post showed the number of evacuees had reached 9,142 people, and was expected to rise because there were more victims not yet evacuated from several villages.
In Surakarta, Central Java, thousands of flood victims reportedly suffered from various illnesses, such as diarrhea and skin and respiratory diseases.
Surakarta's disaster management coordinating unit (Satkorlak) said it had found around 800 cases of acute respiratory tract infection, 542 cases of muscle disorder and some 400 cases of skin infection among 4,080 evacuees.
Some victims chose to stay at hotels throughout Surakarta. Most mid-range hotels with rates between Rp 100,000 (US$10.6) and Rp 250,000 were fully occupied.
Surakarta's Satkorlak reported the number of evacuees had reached 34,600 people.
Surakarta mayor Joko Widodo called on residents to leave areas around the Bengawan Solo dam to avoid the floods.
The city was reportedly still on alert status even though the water level at Demangan sluice gate had subsided from 6.5 to 4.8 meters, as the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency predicted rain would continue to pour until mid-January.
From Tirtomoyo district in Wonogiri regency, only seven of 16 people killed in three landslides had been found as of Saturday.
A Search and Rescue team had difficulty moving dead bodies buried by debris and huge stones, team member Basuki told The Jakarta Post.
In Tawangmangu, 30 victims were evacuated and five were still missing. Head of the Karanganyar disaster management unit Kristianto said the number of victims in Tawangmangu totaled 34, not 37 as previously reported.
In Sragen, it was estimated at least 19,000 people were at risk of losing their homes due to massive floods in 88 villages in 15 districts. In Sribit and Tenggak villages, the water's depth reached three meters, inundating houses and rice fields.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is on a three-day visit to areas around Surakarta and Pacitan, has not visited the disaster locations.
On Saturday the President inaugurated Rumah Pintar playground in Wonogiri and continued his trip to Pacitan to inaugurate a port. Yudhoyono is scheduled to hold a coordination meeting today with regents and mayors whose areas have been affected by the flooding.
[Blontank Poer and Suherdjoko also contributed to this article.]