JACARTA, Indonesia – Landslides and flash floods in eastern Indonesia have killed at least 41 people and displaced thousands, the country’s humanitarian aid agency said on Sunday. More than two dozen others were still missing.
Mud fell from the surrounding hills onto dozens of houses in the village of Lamenele shortly after midnight on the island of Adonara, in the eastern Nusa Tenggara province. Rescuers recovered 35 bodies and at least five wounded, said Lenny Ola, who heads the local disaster agency.
The flash floods have killed at least six people elsewhere, according to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency. The relief efforts were hampered by power cuts, blocked roads covered with thick mud and debris, as well as the remoteness of the area surrounded by rough seas and high waves, said agency spokesman Raditya Jati.
Seasonal rains cause landslides and frequent flooding, killing dozens each year in Indonesia, a chain of 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile floodplains.
Indonesia’s disaster agency reduced the death toll on Sunday to 41 – from 44 – after the search and rescue team checked the victims’ data. At least 27 people were still missing.
The bodies of three people were recovered after being dragged by the floods in the village of Oyang Bayang, where 40 houses were also destroyed, Ola said. Hundreds of people fled submerged houses, some of which were carried away by the floods.
In another village, Waiburak, three people died and seven remained missing when overnight rains caused rivers to break their banks, sending muddy water to large areas of the East Flores district, Ola said. Four injured people were being treated in one local health clinic.
Hundreds of people were still involved in the rescue efforts as of the end of Sunday, Jati told a news conference. At least six villages were affected by floods and a landslide that cut five bridges on the island, he said.
Photos released by the agency show rescuers and police and military personnel taking residents to shelters.
Authorities are still collecting information on the total scale of casualties and damage in the affected areas, said Jati. Severe floods have also been reported in Bima, a city in the neighboring province of West Nusa Tenggara, forcing nearly 10,000 people to flee.
In January, 40 people died in two landslides in the province of West Java.