Residents walking along a flooded road as they evacuate Dayeuhkolot village in Bandung. (Photo: AFP)Jakarta (VNA) – At least two people were killed andhundreds forced to evacuate due to flooding in many areas of Indonesia whilesix others are still missing, according to the Indonesia’s National Agency forDisaster Management.
Heavy rain has pounded Indonesia for days, causing theCitarum River on the island of Java to burst its banks and unleash deadly flashfloods over a wide area.
Residents in a dozen communities on the outskirts ofBandung city, 180 km east of the capital Jakarta, were forced to wade throughstreets of chest-deep water in certain areas.
Images from the scene showed residents being moved tosafety on pontoon boats and small wooden vessels.
Floods and landslides killed two residents in East NusaTenggara province on the island of Flores, the agency said.
Six others are still missing and three injured, saidnational disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.
Flooding is common during Indonesia’s rainy season, whichruns roughly from October to April.
In January this year, at least 70 people were killed whenfloods and landslides hit South Sulawesi province. The latest floods haveaffected over 30,000 people in parts of West Java and East Java provinces, theagency said.
Citarum River is a 300 km-long body of water that is a keysource for hydroelectric power for Indonesia’s most populous island Java andtourism hotspot Bali. The river regularly bursts its banks during torrentialrains.
The World Bank declared it the most polluted river in theworld filled with household rubbish and toxic chemicals dumped by nearbyfactories.
In February 2018, Indonesia came up with a seven-year planto revive the state of Citarum River.–VNA
VNA
