Floods kill 20, displace 170,000 in Malaysia, Indonesia
JAKARTA, Dec 23: Heavy rains in parts of Malaysia and Indonesia triggered floods that killed at least 20 people and forced 170,000 others to abandon their homes, officials and news reports said on Saturday.
At least 13 people were killed and 14 others were missing in torrential rains that swept Indonesia’s provinces of Aceh and North Sumatra, officials and news reports said. More than 80,000 villagers were forced from their homes in the two provinces.
Officials in southern Malaysia said heavy rains had killed seven people and displaced over 90,000 others over the past week.
In Indonesia’s Aceh province, on the northern tip of Sumatra, floods inundated six districts along the northern coast, cutting off land transportation with neighbouring North Sumatra, said Nurdin F. Jos, an Aceh government spokesman.
Nine villagers were killed, including five in the district of Tamiang, and two were missing in Bener Meria district, he said. A total of 70,000 villagers fled their homes.
In North Sumatra’s district of Langkat, four villagers were found dead and 12 others were reported missing, the private El Shinta radio reported, quoting local officials.
It said 17,000 people were evacuated from their houses.
In Malaysia, nearly 74,000 evacuees were in public shelters in the southern state of Johor, 12,650 in neighbouring Malacca state and 5,100 in eastern Pahang state, said an official at the police Internal Security and Public Order Division.
All seven people reported dead were in Johor, the official said on condition of anonymity, saying he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The weather was expected to improve after Sunday, the Malaysian Meteorological Department said.
The rainfall and floods over the past five days in Johor have been reported to be the worst in 100 years.
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi rushed to visit affected areas in Johor on Saturday as he returned from an official visit to Venezuela, the national news agency Bernama reported.
Abdullah promised supplies of food and other necessities to flood victims.
Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said on state-run RTM1 TV station that food and blanket supplies were sufficient for all evacuees.
The government will provide money to those whose homes and crops were damaged by the floods, Najib said while visiting victims in Malacca.—AP
