A drone view shows a residential area affected by floods due to heavy rains in Padang, West Sumatra province, Indonesia, Mar 8, 2024. (Photo: Reuters/Antara Foto/Iggoy el Fitra)
JAKARTA: Days of torrential rain have brought floods and landslides in Indonesia’s province of West Sumatra, forcing the evacuation of more than 75,000 people, while killing at least 21, with six going missing, authorities said on Sunday (Mar 10).
The havoc since last Thursday in the provincial capital of Padang and eight other areas has damaged nearly 700 homes, scores of bridges and schools and 113 hectares of farmland.
“As of Sunday, 21 people were found dead and six people remained missing,” Fajar Sukma, an official from West Sumatra disaster mitigation agency, told AFP by phone on Sunday.
A village located on a hillside in the Sutera subdistrict was struck hard, with around 200 families in the area left isolated after a landslide followed by flash flooding, Fajar said.
A local official earlier put the death toll at 18 with five missing.
Rescuers were searching for the missing on Sunday as authorities focused their operation on three areas affected by the disasters, local search and rescue official Abdul Malik said.
“Today’s search involves around 150 people from disaster organisations in West Sumatra,” Abdul said in a statement.
A Local Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) officer evacuates an elderly woman from a residential area affected by floods due to heavy rains, in Padang, West Sumatra province, Indonesia, Mar 8, 2024. (Photo: Reuters/Antara Foto/Iggoy el Fitra)
Local Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) officers use an inflatable boat to evacuate locals at a residential area affected by floods due to heavy rains, in Padang, West Sumatra province, Indonesia, Mar 8, 2024. (Photo: Reuters/Antara Foto/Iggoy el Fitra)
Those evacuated gathered in the nearest mosques, said Abdul Muhari, the spokesperson of Indonesia’s disaster agency BNPB, but no temporary shelters were set up. They received food, water and medicines, while others returned home as waters subsided.
Doni Gusrizal, a senior official from the Pesisir Selatan disaster mitigation agency, said waters had started to recede after the flooding, but added that access to areas affected by the landslide remained difficult because of hilly terrain.
In the Padang Pariaman regency, also in West Sumatra, heavy downpours earlier this week caused rivers to overflow and triggered floods and a landslide, killing at least three people, according to a statement from the local disaster agency.
With more rain expected in the next few days, the agency warned of further damage from floods and landslides.
Indonesia’s rainy season began in January with the BMKG meteorological agency forecasting a first-quarter peak, particularly on the islands of Java and Sumatra.
>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : ChannelNewsAsia – https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/indonesia-flood-landslide-killed-missing-padang-west-sumatra-4184681
