Two missing as major floods hit Cenral Java

SEMARANG (JP): Two people went missing and thousands fled their homes as major floods hit Central Java's northern coastal towns on Saturday, officials said yesterday.

The floods triggered by incessant downpours inundated more than 10,000 houses in Semarang, Demak, Pati and Jepara.

A 50-year-old widow, whose house was washed away, in Semarang and a 60-year-old woman in Pati have been declared missing. They are feared dead.

Semarang and Pati were the worst hit with flood levels reaching one meter. Residents there said the disaster was probably the worst in 40 years.

In Pati, at least 45 houses collapsed and 400 others were damaged in the storm. The Pati regent estimated material losses at Rp 2 billion (US$850,000).

"We will send food and medicine to the stricken areas as soon as possible," he said.

In Pati's Dukuh Seti and Tayu subdistricts, were the flooding peaked, there was widespread panic.

"This is the worst flood I have seen in 40 years," said Haryono, a local resident.

Semarang was flooded after the Garang river overflowed, hitting schools, shop{, a railway station, the governor's residents and hospitals.

"We had to move dozens of patients to the second floor after the water level on the ground floor reached 40 centimeters," said the manager of Tlogorejo Hospital.

Doctors and many patients' relatives were stranded in the hospital all night because of the heavy rain and widespread flooding, she said.

At least two trains canceled their departure to Jakarta from Tawang railway station where the water was 70 centimeters deep, said officials of the state railway company. (har/pan)