Torrential rains overwhelmed a dam and caused landslides that killed at least 30 people and displaced more than 2,000 in central Indonesia, officials said Wednesday, January 23. 25 People are still missing.
The dead included two infants who drowned and a man who was electrocuted after the floods began late Tuesday, said Adnan Purichta Ichsann, the chief of Gowa district near Makassar, the provincial capital of South Sulawesi.
Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency has set up temporary shelters and field kitchens for residents fleeing floodwaters over a meter high that inundated riverside settlements in South Sulawesi province, including in the provincial capital Makassar, on Wednesday and Thursday.
“So far we have found 30 people who drowned or were caught in landslides triggered by heavy rains and when the Bili-Bili dam started overflowing,” said agency official Hasriadi.
One major highway has been blocked, prompting authorities to deliver aid via helicopter, according to media.
Aerial images showed muddy brown water covering swaths of lands and, in some areas, rushing water washing away houses and debris.
Deadly landslides and floods are a frequent occurrence during seasonal rains in Indonesia. A landslide in Sukabumi on the main island of Java earlier this month killed 32 people.
Source: Reuters, Washington Post
Photo: Masyudi Syachban Firmansyah/Associated Press