At least 59 dead in
Indonesia floods, landslides
January 25, 2019 - At least 59 people have been killed and 25 are missing after landslides and floods ravaged Indonesia's South Sulawesi Province, the government said Friday.
Floods have inundated at least 100 villages in the province since Wednesday, following days of heavy rain, AFP reported.
"I've never seen something this bad – this is the worst," Syamsibar, head of South Sulawesi's disaster mitigation agency, told AFP, adding that 25 people were still missing.
Lashed by the heavy rain, rivers swelled and burst their banks, inundating dozens of communities in 11 districts of southern Sulawesi. Parts of the provincial capital Makassar have also been affected.
Gowa district suffered the heaviest casualties, with 44 people found dead, said Syamsibar, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.
Some 3,400 people were evacuated from their homes and given refuge in schools, mosques and tents.
Rescuers and residents waded through streets filled with waist-deep water, some carrying their possessions above their heads.
Authorities say floodwaters are receding but the impact of the disaster has ranged far and wide, damaging houses, government buildings, schools and bridges.
"All the locals in this area have been evacuated to the mosque, except for a woman who refuses to leave her house because she's scared her belongings could be looted," said Makassar police officer Ardal.
The death toll stood at 30 on Thursday evening.
Landslides and floods are common in Indonesia, especially during the monsoon season between October and April, when rains lash the vast Southeast Asian archipelago.
Last year, flash floods and landslides killed at least 22 people in several districts across Sumatra Island, while a dozen died when an avalanche of mud and rock cascaded down a steep slope in central Java, Indonesia's main island.
Indonesia is one of the most disaster-prone nations on Earth, straddling the Pacific Ring of Fire, where tectonic plates collide. Volcanic eruptions and earthquakes are common.
In December, more than 400 were killed in a volcano-triggered tsunami in western Java, while thousands died in a quake-tsunami disaster around the city of Palu on the island of Sulawesi in September.
Lombok, an island next to Bali, was rocked by earthquakes in the summer that killed more than 500 and sparked a mass exodus of foreigners from the tropical paradise.