Indonesia floods, landslide leave 10 dead, 10 missing
JAKARTA: At least 10 people were killed and 10 others were missing after flash floods and a landslide on the western Indonesian island of Sumatra, a local official said on Saturday.
Torrential rains triggered the floods and landslide that hit Pesisir Selatan regency in West Sumatra province, forcing about 46,000 people to evacuate to temporary shelters.
“Ten people were found dead. Two victims were found in Langgai village, Sutera subdistrict. Seven victims were found and identified in Koto XI Tarusan subdistrict and one other victim was found in the Lengayang subdistrict,” Doni Yusrizal, acting head of the Pesisir Selatan disaster mitigation agency, said in a statement.
Bad weather has hampered efforts to search for 10 missing people, he added.
“The weather as of this morning is still rainy, and then there are some access [points] that were cut off, so it is difficult to go through,” said Doni, adding that they were using boats to reach people cut off by the floods.
At least 14 houses were buried in the landslide, more than 20,000 houses were flooded and eight bridges had collapsed, the statement said.
In Padang Pariaman regency, also in West Sumatra, heavy downpours between Thursday and Friday caused rivers to overflow and triggered floods and a landslide, killing at least three people, said a statement from the local disaster mitigation agency.
Indonesia is prone to landslides during the rainy season and the problem has been aggravated in some places by deforestation, with prolonged torrential rain causing flooding in some areas of the archipelago nation.
A landslide and floods swept away dozens of houses and destroyed a hotel near Lake Toba on Sumatra in December, killing at least two.