19 dead in floods, landslides on Indonesia’s Java island

The worst-hit district was Garut, where 16 people were found dead and 8 others are still missing after 2 rivers overflowed Tuesday night.

Nine people are still missing in West Java’s Garut and Sumedang districts, said National Disaster Management Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.

Sutopo said 30 people were injured in the district including four who were in serious condition.

In some cases, flood waters swept away entire houses, forcing more than 1,000 people to take shelter in tents provided by emergency personnel.

The heavy rainfall has also caused landslides in Semedang regency in West Java.

“The search for them continues”, Sutopo told AFP.

Officials warned residents about the potential for further disasters as Indonesia experiences unseasonably heavy rains brought on by the La Nina weather phenomenon.

Landslides and flooding are common in Indonesia, a vast tropical archipelago prone to natural disasters and torrential downpours. The death toll from a series of landslides and flash floods in Indonesia climbed to 19 on September 21, 2016.

An Indonesian search and rescue team joined by volunteers removes debris from an area hit by a landslide in Sumedang. Many people were reported missing when heavy downpours sent torrents of water, mud and rock surging into villages.

In June, almost fifty people lost their lives due to heavy rains and landslides in the central region of Java island.