DENPASAR, Indonesia (AP) — Rescuers on Thursday searched in rivers and the rubble of devastated villages for survivors of devastating flash floods that struck two provinces in Indonesia a day earlier, as waters began to recede.
Torrential rains beginning Monday caused flooding and landslides on the tourist island of Bali and in East Nusa Tenggara province, killing at least 20 people and leaving 6 missing.
Rain caused rivers to burst their banks, tearing through nine cities and districts on Bali. Mud, rocks and trees tumbled onto mountainside hamlets and rising rivers submerged at least 120 neighborhoods and resulted in a dozen landslides in several places, National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari said in a statement.
Muhari said Thursday that rescuers had retrieved five more bodies as floods receded in Bali, bringing the death toll from floods on the island to 14. Rescue workers are searching for two residents still missing, he said.
As river levels returned to normal on Thursday, people in Denpasar, Bali’s capital, left crammed emergency shelters. They found streets covered in mud and debris, cars lying upside down in parks or piled up in narrow alleys, and sidewalks strewn with sandals, pots and pans and old photographs.
Authorities took advantage of the receding waters to begin clearing away mud and removing piles of wet garbage from the streets, and electricity was restored to tens of thousands of residences and businesses.
Heavy seasonal rain from about September to March frequently causes in Indonesia.
Suharyanto, the head of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, told a news conference late Wednesday that the threat of flooding in Bali is over.
The floods in Bali swept away people and about 474 kiosks and small shophouses in art and public markets, killing at least six residents and submerging hundreds of houses and buildings, forcing hundreds of residents to flee to temporary shelters, said Suharyanto, who goes by a single name like many Indonesians.
He said up to 600 rescue workers, police and soldiers have been deployed since Wednesday to search for six people reportedly still missing in Bali as the floods also have damaged roads, bridges and other infrastructures.
About 562 people remain crammed in government shelters in Bali, the agency said.
Scores of rescue personnel were searching through a river around the remote village of Mauponggo in East Nusa Tenggara, where floods left tons of mud, rocks and trees.
Rescuers were focused on finding four people, including two toddlers, who were swept away by floods along with 35 houses, said local police chief Dewa Putu Suariawan. Six other villagers were pulled out of floodwaters or mud on Wednesday.
Local Disaster Mitigation Agency head Agustinus Pone said the severe weather and rugged terrain that hampered rescue efforts exacerbated by the disruption of electricity, clean water, and telecommunications networks in 18 villages by flash floods.
He said that flooding and landslides in the area also destroyed two bridges, two government offices, a plantation and rice fields, and killed livestock.
