BANJARNEGARA, INDONESIA // The death toll from flash floods and landslides in Indonesia rose to 31 with 19 missing and search crews still scouring devastated villages in the hope of finding survivors.
Torrential rain has brought serious flooding across Central Java, submerging thousands of homes and burying people in mudslides. Residents were forced to climb on to roofs to escape rising water.
Areas prone to landslides in the densely-populated province have been worst hit, with drivers swept off roads and many homes completely destroyed by fast-moving walls of mud, rock and water.
Disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said the number of victims rose after seven people believed missing were found dead.
In Banjarnegara, where six people were killed in an avalanche of mud, residents were bracing themselves for further flooding. Emergency crews were trying to clear fallen trees and rocks dumped by huge landslides.
Elsewhere victims were swept away by floodwaters and buried in their homes as landslides swept through villages. In one district, nine people were killed as they attempted to clear rubble from a blocked road and in another, five people were buried in their homes as a landslide swept through their village..
“Suddenly a huge landslide struck the cars and people on the street. Nine bodies were retrieved,” said Mr Sutopo. Evacuation centres, equipped with temporary shelters and kitchens, have been erected near the disaster zones for those escaping the worst-hit areas.
Landslides are not uncommon in Indonesia, a vast tropical archipelago prone to natural disasters and torrential downpours.
Last month, 15 students holidaying at a popular tourist spot in western Indonesia were killed when a landslide swept through their camp ground.
* Agence France Presse
