MOUNDS of thick, hardening mud are scattered at various points along Jalan Malonda, part of the thoroughfare connecting Palu and Donggala in Central Sulawesi. Some of the dry mud piles are ankle deep. On Wednesday afternoon, July 10, motorcyclists were seen struggling to pass through them. Thick dust billowed into the air as vehicles pass the drying mud, the result of the floods in June.

The flash floods on June 29 were not the first incident in