North Sumatran floods kill 42

North Sumatran floods kill 42

JAKARTA (JP): Flooding in North Sumatra claimed at least 42
lives yesterday and left another 16 people missing, officials
said.

Floods and landslides in Labuhan Batu and Tapanuli Selatan
districts have also injured about 500 people and forced another
5,000 people to flee their homes, the officials added.

Spokesman for the South Tapanuli administration Sarmadan
Harahap said that rescue workers were working to recover more
victims in the hardest hit village of Sipiongon.

"The number of victims is expected to rise," he told The
Jakarta Post by telephone. "Search and rescue workers combed the
stricken villages today."

He added that flash floods and landslides struck tens of
villages in the Labuhan Batu district, damaging hundreds of
houses and inundating hundreds of hectares of paddy fields.

He said heavy rains on Wednesday had triggered the Bilah River
to flood. Up to 17 villages had been struck, with 240 hectares of
paddy fields, 250 buildings and about 70 hectares of rubber
plantations in Bilah Batu damaged.

Harahap said the local administration asked residents to
remain alert for more flooding because the weather continued to
be bad.

"The rain is continuing," he said, "There is no indication
when the rain will stop."

He said landslides had blocked several roads connecting the
two regencies.

Sofyan Lubis, an attendant at a command post in the South
Tapanuli regency capital of Padang Sidempuan, told the Post that
rescue workers had evacuated villagers affected by the flood to
safer grounds.

Those killed in the disaster have yet to be identified or
those missing listed, he added.

According to Lubis, a 200-strong search and rescue team from
the police and military found it difficult to get into the
isolated villages.

In the Sipiongon regency, the rescue workers had to travel 120
kilometers from Padang Sidempuan before they could reach the
flooded communities.

"We have sent relief aid to the areas," he said. (rms)