Landslide cuts off Saluwa-Kulawi road in Central Sulawesi


Landslide, triggered by incessant heavy rains over the last two days, has cut off road connecting Saluwa and Kulawi, in Central Sulawesi Province.

Landslide buried parts of the road connecting Saluwa village and Mt Potong on Thursday at around 8 pm local time, according to local residents here on Friday.

Vehicles coming from Palu and intending to go to Kulawi or Pipikoro Districts were completely blocked as the road was covered by the landslide, rocks and fallen trees.

"At least it will take a week to clean up the landslide, rocks and fallen trees from the road," Ronie, 37, a resident of Sadaunta village, Kulawi subdistrict, said.

He said that the area, which has been deforested, was prone to landslides.

Meanwhile, incessant downpours over the past few days have caused the Palu River to overflow creating a flood that inundated two neighborhoods, Ujuna and Besusu Barat, in Palu City, Central Sulawesi Province, on Thursday.

Local residents were forced to save their belongings as floodwaters invaded their houses.

A number of volunteers also tried to repair several dams which had been damaged by last year's floods which had inundated thousands of houses and forced around 10,000 people to flee to higher ground.

_{Bron:The Jakarta Post} | Gewijzigd: 25 juli 2008, 22:07 uur, door Kikimero