Flooding leaves 19 dead in Indonesia’s Java island

By Ainur Rohmah

TUBAN, Indonesia

Floods triggered by torrential rains have left at least 19 people dead and thousands displaced in Indonesia’s central Java island.

National Disaster Management Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday that overnight rains resulted in flooding in seven districts of Garut regency in West Java province.

"Joint search and rescue teams are continuing to evacuate the victims, and have set up emergency shelters, common kitchens and health posts," he said.

Referring to dozens of houses that were swept away by floods and landslides, he added, “the amount of damage to houses and buildings is still being recorded."

While some villagers traveled to disaster-struck areas to search for family members, one local hospital was flooded and forced to evacuate its patients.

A flood victim, 31-year-old Entis Sutisna, described being traumatized after witnessing a degree of flooding he would have “never predicted”.

"The tragedy overnight made me and my family traumatized because this is the first time [such severe flooding] happened," he told detik.com, expressing relief that his entire family had survived.

Sutisna said that although it rained for two hours in the area Tuesday night, the downpour was intense enough to cause the Cimanuk River -- located some 20 meters (66 feet) from his village -- to overflow and flood homes.

Recounting how his house flooded while his family was asleep, he said he planned to move to a safer area further away from a river.

"My motorcycle and house are lost, carried away by the flood, there is nothing left," he added.

In June, floods and landslides in Java and Sulawesi islands left more than 60 people dead.

Seasonal rains often cause flooding and landslides in Indonesia, a chain of 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or flood-prone plains close to rivers.