Indonesia search resumes after flash flood and landslide leaves 17 dead and 9 missing

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian rescuers resumed a search Wednesday for people missing after flash floods and landslides on Indonesia’s main island of Java that killed at least 17 people.

Waters from flooded rivers tore through nine villages in Pekalongan regency of Central Java province and landslides tumbled onto mountainside hamlets after the torrential rains Monday.

National Disaster Management Agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari said flooding triggered a landslide that buried two houses and a cafe in Petungkriyono resort area. The disasters all together destroyed 25 houses, a dam and three main bridges connecting villages in Pekalongan.

Muhari said at least 17 people were dead, nine were missing and 13 injured by Wednesday. Nearly 300 people were forced to flee to temporary government shelters.

The search and rescue operation that was hampered by bad weather, mudslides and rugged terrain was halted Tuesday afternoon due to heavy rain and thick fog that made devastated areas along the rivers dangerous to rescuers.

On Wednesday, they searched in rivers and the rubble of villages for bodies and, whenever possible, survivors in worst-hit Kasimpar village, said Budiono, who heads a local rescue office.

Scores of rescue personnel were searching through a Petungkriyono area where tons of mud and rocks buried two houses and a café to search for at least nine people reported missing.

Videos and photos released by National Search and Rescue Agency showed personnel digging desperately in villages where roads and green-terraced rice fields were transformed into murky brown mud and villages were covered by thick mud, rocks and uprooted trees.

Landslides and floods were also reported in many other provinces, Muhari said. On Monday, a landslide hit five houses in Denpasar on the tourist island of Bali, killing four people and leaving one missing.

Heavy seasonal rain from about October to March frequently causes flooding and landslides in Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile floodplains.

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