JAKARTA, Dec 24: Flash floods have killed more than 60 people in Indonesia with hundreds of others missing and more than 110,000 forced to flee their homes as whole villages were washed away, officials said on Sunday.
The tsunami-ravaged province of Aceh on Sumatra island was the worst-hit, with at least 60 dead in one district alone as the region prepared to mark the second anniversary of the Dec 26, 2004 Indian Ocean catastrophe.
Villages have been swallowed by flood waters up to eight metres deep following a week of torrential rains.
“We have not been able to evacuate more victim's bodies since this morning.
The number so far has been 60 bodies from Aceh Tamiyang district,” Ghufran Zainal Abidin, the local chairman of the Prosperous Justice Party said.
“The Aceh Tamiyang area is surrounded by water and the only way we can get around is by boat,” said Abidin, who is helping to coordinate the flood relief effort.
Entire villages have been washed away in Aceh Tamiyang, where the flimsy houses were built from bamboo and wood.
“I have received reports that Limo Mukur village has been washed away by the current and we have not found residents of that village,” provincial spokesman Nurdin Joes said.—AFP
