Indonesia flood, landslide death toll rises
Thousands forced to flee villages in South Sulawesi
JAKARTA: An overflowing dam has killed at least 30 people in Indonesia and forced thousands to flee their villages, authorities said yesterday. Twenty-five people are missing.
Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency has set up temporary shelters and field kitchens for residents fleeing floodwaters over a metre high that inundated riverside settlements in South Sulawesi province, including in the provincial capital Makassar, on Wednesday and yesterday.
"So far we have found 30 people who drowned or were caught in landslides triggered by heavy rains and when the Bili-Bili dam started overflowing," said agency official Hasriadi.
One major highway has been blocked, prompting authorities to deliver aid via helicopter, according to media.
Aerial images showed muddy brown water covering swaths of land and, in some areas, rushing water washing away houses and debris.Parts of the provincial capital Makassar have been affected.
Rescuers and residents waded through streets filled with waist-deep water, some carrying their belongings above their heads.
"We urge people to always be aware of the possibility of floods and landslides," said national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.
Yesterday, the disaster agency said that while flooding in South Sulawesi province was receding "the search and evacuation process is still ongoing".
More than 3,000 people have been evacuated and at least 46 are being treated at local hospitals and health clinics.
The floods also damaged houses, government buildings, schools and bridges.
Landslides and flooding are common in Indonesia, especially during the monsoon season between October and April, when rain lashes the vast Southeast Asian archipelago.
In October, flash floods and landslides killed at least 22 people in several districts across Sumatra island.
TSUNAMI
Indonesia is still reeling from a deadly tsunami at the end of last month triggered by an erupting volcano in the middle of the Sunda Strait between the Java and Sumatra islands that killed more than 400 people.
The tsunami was Indonesia's third major natural disaster in six months.
It followed a series of powerful earthquakes on the island of Lombok in July and August and an earthquake-tsunami in September that killed around 2,200 people in Palu on Sulawesi island, with thousands more missing and presumed dead. - AFP, REUTERS
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