Flash flood hits C. Java

SEMARANG: A two-meter-high flash flood hit eight villages in Tayu, Pati, Central Java, when the Tayu river overflowed Friday.

Information obtained Saturday from an on-duty officer at the Pati center for natural disaster management stated that the eight villages affected by the flood were Tayu Kulon, Tayu Wetan, Keboromo, Dororejo, Kalikolang, Jepat Lor, Tunggulsari and Sambiroto.

Two houses were carried away in the flash flood, one owned by a Tayu Kulon resident and one by a Sambiroto resident, Antara reported.

Cipto, the owner of the house in Tayu Kulon, and one of his daughters, Maya, were also carried away by the flood but local people managed to save them.

According to the officer, another villager, Marsini, an old woman, was also swept away by the flood and has not been found.

Djoko Suroso, a resident of Tayu Wetan, said that there were signs of the flash flood at 7.20 p.m. Western Indonesia Time, when rain, which was at the time not heavy, caused the river to overflow, but the river subsided some time later.

High rainfall at the slopes of Mt. Muria, however, caused the level of river water to rise, resulting in the flash flood.

The value of the material losses inflicted is yet to be calculated.