The Benenai River in Malacca-Timor-NTT is the only river in Timor that experiences flooding during the rainy season. Together with other areas in various regions in Indonesia, such as Java, Sumatra and Kalimantan, where the rainy season often bring nightmares because the rainy season brings natural disasters such as landslides, floods and storms wind hurricane. Lately landslides and floods have again hit some areas of Java island with many casualties and property.
Jakarta Metropolitan City, for example, is routinely flooded every year. Residents are forced to flee to safer areas for a while. In short in the areas of Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan and Papua, the rainy season in addition to bringing fertility also brings severe natural disasters to nature, people and life on earth.
The water supply on Timor Island is entirely dependent on rainwater. On Timor Island, there are no floods and landslides that bring about an annual disaster. Timor Island has no volcano spewing magma and bringing disaster.
Elsewhere in Indonesia who have nightmares during the rainy season, on the island of Timor, it is a blessing in the rainy season. Water gushing from the sky and abounds during the rainy season. Rain water brings tremendous benefits.
Timor Island is classified as a barren, dry island and contains no volcanic content. Drought scenes occur during the dry season in July, August, September, October and November.Â
Every October the hot weather sting and the sun was shining all day. Drought disaster struck and the leaves of the trees fall to the ground and burn. Sometimes forests are burned by people for new gardens. The grass in the fields was burned. The drought that plagued the island of Timor resulted in disasters for humans and animals. In the dry season, all the cattle suffer from hunger and thirst because the cattle (goats, horses, cows, deer, etc) do not get enough feed and water.
The rainy season changes the situation during December, January, February, March, April, May and June. In the rainy season, the water gushing from the sky in abundance causes the rivers and the land to be inundated.Â
The rainy season grows grass. The forests are green again with fresh water sources in abundant rivers. The rivers on the island of Timor include shallow rivers with floods pouring down the coast. Water can not be stored for long time because the water flows freely and then dries if it does not rain. The rivers are heavily dependent on rainfall during the rainy season.
Rain water is used for plantations, greening, rice fields and water for MCK (drink/eat, wash and wc). Rain water brings growth for plants, forests, grasses to meet the needs of human and animal life. Efforts to hold rain water can stay long until the dry season by making the embungs and dams. Now many large embungs have been built in Timor-East Nusa Tenggara Province-Indonesia.
Water embungs have been used for MCK (drink/eat, wash and wc), afforestation, farming, fisheries of freshwater, agriculture and rice fields. Water embungs can survive until the next rainy season. Embung is a large amount of water reservoir that is effective despite the fact of siltation every year. But also every year floods carry mud into the embungs.