A Palm Oil Company Responsible for the Flooding in Batang Toru

BATANG TORU, KOMPAS — The Criminal Investigation Agency of the National Police has discovered a palm oil company that allegedly cleared land and caused flash floods in Garoga Village, Batang Toru District, South Tapanuli, North Sumatra. The overflow of the Garoga river basin resulted in 47 fatalities and 22 missing persons.

The Director of Certain Criminal Acts at the National Police Criminal Investigation Agency, Brigadier General Mohammad Irhamni, stated in Batang Toru on Wednesday (10/12/2025) that Garoga Village is situated between two streams of the Garoga River. On November 25, a pile of wood blocked two bridges on both river streams, causing the water to overflow.

"The impact is very severe; the flood swept through all the housing located between the two rivers, as well as the settlements on both sides of the river. Approximately 1,000 houses were washed away," said Irhamni.

Since December 5, members of the Criminal Investigation Agency and the Ministry of Forestry have been deployed to Batang Toru to investigate the origin of the logs that floated to Garoga Village. A total of 43 wood samples were collected by the team from various points in the disaster-affected area.

Functional Young Expert in Forest Ecosystem Control at the Sustainable Forest Management Unit II Medan of the Ministry of Forestry, Yandi Irawan Sutisna, stated that there are 15 identified wood samples. The wood pieces found around the disaster site are predominantly of the rubber, meranti, palm, durian, and bayur types.

"After identifying the type of wood, we then matched the vegetation upstream and downstream. The suitable types are rubber and bayur," said Irawan.

Irhamni added that based on satellite imagery, there are 110 land clearing points in the Garoga watershed. The team has visited four of these points and found land clearing covering an area of 6-30 hectares. These four points are located on very steep slopes, so when heavy rain occurs, mud and wood materials are directly carried away by the water flow into the river body.

"At kilometer 8, we found heavy equipment, two excavators, and one bulldozer. We have already found two pieces of evidence of a crime, so we will formalize this into an investigation to identify who the responsible party is," he stated.

Irhamni stated that land clearing at four points in the Garoga watershed was carried out by the palm oil company PT TBS. He emphasized that the authorities will not cease to investigate 106 other points of deforestation as monitored through satellite imagery.

"We'll try searching again upstream. We're working hard, and hopefully we'll quickly find the cause of the flooding," he said.

The Head of the Subdirectorate for Watershed Management Planning at the Directorate of Planning and Supervision of Watershed Management (PEPDAS) of the Ministry of Forestry, Catur Basuki Setiawan, stated that there are 92 flood points from 13 watersheds in 11 districts/cities in North Sumatra. Compared to 2019, the land cover in these 13 watersheds in North Sumatra has decreased by 9,424 hectares.

According to Basuki, the critical land or land without forest cover in the Garoga watershed covers an area of 7,921 hectares or 17.8 percent of the total area of the watershed, which is 44,610 hectares. Not far from the Garoga River, there is also the Batang Toru watershed, where the critical land has now reached 10.2 percent of the total area or 35,092 hectares.

He stated that the Garoga watershed is classified as a short river, as its length from the upstream to the sea is only about 58 kilometers. In addition, the Garoga watershed is also located around very steep hillsides.