Floods In Central Java Claim 24 Lives, 16 Reported Missing

By Azeman Ariffin JAKARTA, June 20 (Bernama) -- A total of 24 people are confirmed dead while 16 others are still missing when floods and landslides battered 16 districts in Central Java since Saturday night. Local television news broadcasts had quoted Indonesian National Board for Disaster Management (BNPB) Data Information Centre and Public Relations chief, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho as saying, heavy rain would continue in Central Java until late Sunday afternoon and that the floods at affected areas were still serious. "The floods and landslides occurred in the districts of Kebumen, Banjarnegara, Wonosobo, Purworejo, Banyumas, Karanganyar, Wonogiri and Solo in the Central Java region," he said in a media statement on Sunday. Sutopo said mudslides also hit the Desa Jatiroto and Desa Purbowangi villages in the Kebumen district about 7 last night, while in some areas, floods were reported to have occurred as high as between two and three metres, causing hundreds of houses to be submerged. The mudslides at several villages in the district were believed to have claimed several lives after the houses were crushed in the mud. "We have found the bodies of three men, so far. The search and rescue works are still ongoing," he said, adding the victims were buried under the landslides while clearing a road affected by mudslides in their housing area. Meanwhile, the Indonesian Agency for Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysics in a statement issued a warning on severe weather condition until Monday at several districts in Sumatera, East Nusa Tenggara and Sulawesi. The agency also said Jakarta would be battered by rains. --BERNAMA