Flash Floods In Eastern Indonesia Kill At Least 42 People, Many Still Missing - Reports

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th March, 2019) Flash floods in Indonesia's eastern Papua province have claimed the lives of at least 42 people, while almost 40 others suffered injuries and dozens more remain missing, media reported on Sunday, citing local officials.�

Cory Simbolon, a local disaster management official, told the Xinhua News Agency that 21 people had suffered serious injuries and the other 18 were slightly injured. The flash floods, which hit several villages in the province's northern Jayapura district on Saturday evening, were caused by torrential rains, the agency reported.

"Dozens of people are still missing, as the flash floods hit at about 18:00 p.m. local time [on Saturday, 09:00 GMT on Saturday]," the official was quoted as saying by the agency.

According to the official, more than 3,000 people had to leave their homes as dozens of buildings and infrastructure facilities have been damaged by the natural disaster, the agency reported.

Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for the Indonesian National Agency for Disaster Management, said that authorities had already started providing relief aid to those affected by the floods, the news agency added.

This kind of natural disasters is not uncommon in Indonesia. Less than two months ago, floods and landslides killed almost 70 people in the country's South Sulawesi province.