At least 10 people have died and three are missing after a flash flood and landslides struck Garut and Sumedang in West Java in the early hours of Wednesday morning. According to Sutopo, the waters quickly rose to around two metres resulting in the disaster.
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He said preliminary data from the local disaster agency in Garut showed “eight people died and one person is still missing” after a river burst its banks.
The flash floods left 14 people dead, eight missing, and about 1,000 others displaced, he added.
In Sumedang district, landslides hit two houses, leaving two people dead and two others missing on Tuesday night, Sutopo said.
Improvised kitchens and emergency shelters were installed in the area in order to help those who lost their homes.
In June, almost fifty people lost their lives due to heavy rains and landslides in the central region of Java island.
Officials warned residents about the potential for further disasters as Indonesia experiences unseasonably heavy rains brought on by the La Nina weather phenomenon.
“The search for them continues”, Sutopo told AFP.
Indonesia is a vast tropical archipelago which is prone to natural disasters and torrential downpours.
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Similarly heavy rains in June caused massive destruction when flood waters carried mud and rocks into Central Java province, the most populous region on the island.
