At Least 90 Dead, Dozens Missing In Indonesia Timor Floods

This handout photo taken on April 5, 2021 and released by Indonesian National Board for Disaster Management (BNPB) shows the aftermath of a flash flood in Lembata, East Flores, as dozens are missing after flash floods and landslides killed more than 70 people in Indonesia and neighbouring East Timor, while thousands fled to shelters after the disaster left them homeless. HANDOUT / Indonesian National Board for Disaster Management (BNPB) / AFP

 

Tropical cyclone Seroja pounded Indonesia and East Timor Monday after torrential rains triggered floods and landslides that have killed at least 91 people and left dozens missing.

Packing heavy winds and rain, the storm heaped more misery on the Southeast Asian nations after Sunday’s disaster turned small communities into wastelands of mud and uprooted trees and forced thousands of people into shelters.

Downpours are expected over the next day as the storm triggers offshore waves as high as six metres (20 feet), Indonesia’s disaster agency said.

The cyclone, which was picking up strength as it moved toward the west coast of Australia, hampered efforts to reach trapped survivors.

 

This handout photo taken on April 5, 2021 and released by the National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS) shows rescuers looking for survivors in Nelemamadike village, East Flores, after torrential rains triggered floods and landslides in Indonesia and East Timor.
HANDOUT / NATIONAL SEARCH AND RESCUE AGENCY / AFP

 

Indonesia’s disaster agency said at least 70 people have been killed, with another 70 missings.

In East Timor, at least 21 people have been killed according to an official in the tiny half-island nation of 1.3 million that lies between Indonesia and Australia.

Many of the deaths were in East Timor’s inundated capital Dili, where the front of the presidential palace was transformed into a mud pit.

In Indonesia’s remote East Flores municipality, torrents of mud washed over homes, bridges, and roads.

Images from Indonesia’s search-and-rescue agency showed workers digging up mud-covered corpses before placing them in body bags.

On Lembata, an island east of Flores, parts of some villages were swept down a mountainside and carried to the shore of the ocean.

Soon after flash floods began tearing into resident Basir Langoday’s district in the early morning, he heard screams for help from a nearby home covered in rubble.

“There were four of them inside. Three survived but the other one didn’t make it,” he told reporters.

Langoday and his friends scrambled to try and save the trapped man before he was crushed to death.

“He said ‘hurry, I can’t hold on any longer,” Langoday added.

Juna Witak, another Lembata resident, joined his family at a local hospital where they wept over the corpse of his mother who was killed in a flash flood Sunday. Her body was found by the seashore.

“There was a rumbling sound and the floods swept away homes, everything,” Witak said.

– ‘Medicine, food, blankets’ –
Indonesian President Joko Widodo expressed “deepest condolences” over the devastation in the southeast end of the archipelago.

“I understand the deep sorrow suffered by our brothers and sisters because of this disaster,” he said in a nationwide address.

The European Union said it was ready to offer assistance to poverty-stricken East Timor, officially known as Timor-Leste.

“The catastrophic floods come at a time when Timor-Leste is working hard to contain the spread of Covid-19 among its population, putting a considerable additional strain both on resources and on the Timorese people,” the EU said.

Across the region, residents have flocked to temporary shelters or taken refuge in what was left of their homes.

“The evacuees are spread out. There are hundreds in each sub-district but many others are staying at home,” said Alfons Hada Bethan, head of the East Flores disaster agency.

“They need medicine, food, blankets.”

Some 2,500 people had been evacuated in East Timor, along with several thousand more in Indonesia.

Pounding rains challenged efforts to find any survivors.

“We suspect many people are buried but it’s not clear how many are missing,” Bethan said.

In Lembata, local officials were forced to deploy heavy equipment to reopen the roads.

Images from the island showed barefoot locals wading through mud and past collapsed houses to evacuate victims on makeshift stretchers.

Fatal landslides and flash floods are common across the Indonesian archipelago during the rainy season.

January saw flash floods hit the Indonesian town of Sumedang in West Java, killing 40 people.

And last September, at least 11 people were killed in landslides on Borneo.

The disaster agency has estimated that 125 million Indonesians — nearly half of the country’s population — live in areas at risk of landslides.

The disasters are often caused by deforestation, according to environmentalists.

 

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At least 55 people killed in Rwanda heavy rains

 

Fifty-five people were killed in Wednesday's heavy rains in different parts of Rwanda, a senior Rwandan official said Thursday.

The victims were killed by floods and landslides triggered by the rains, and four others were injured, Minister in charge of emergency management Marie Solange Kayisire said during a live news program on Rwanda Television.

The death toll could rise, she said

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Tanzanian Bishop appeals for flood relief

The Bishop of Lindi has asked for help from “all people of good will.”

By Fr John Waters

As the flooding in Tanzania continues, the Bishop of Lindi, one of the most affected areas of the country, has put out an appeal for disaster relief. Torrential rain has caused flooding in the South-Eastern region of Tanzania since the end of January.

Bishop Bruno Pius Ngonyani has called on local caritas groups, state authorities, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and “all people of good will” to help those affected by the flooding. His appeal echoes another which was made by the Tanzanian Prime Minister’s disaster relief team, who called for more donations of money and resources as the crisis continued. At least 21 people have died as a result of the floods, with a further 21,000 people having been displaced.

Relief efforts are being hampered by the fact that rain is still ongoing in some of the worst affected areas. A number of road bridges have also been damaged by the floods waters, leaving some areas only accessible by helicopter. In January one national disaster management team said that the situation had left them overstretched and under-resourced.

Many schools have been closed to their pupils and are instead being used as shelters for those made homeless. Makeshift hospitals and healthcare facilities are also often based in these converted school buildings.

Up to 495 acres of farmland have also been destroyed by the floods, leaving many people without food supplies.  

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Mayor Says Landslides Kill at Least 15 in Burundi's Capital

By Associated Press

The mayor of Burundi's capital says at least 15 people have been killed by landslides caused by heavy rains over the weekend.
                 
Bujumbura Mayor Freddy Mbonimpa on Sunday evening said another 30 people were injured and dozens of homes were damaged or destroyed in the landslides earlier in the day north of the capital.
                 
One 50-year-old survivor who gave her name only as Angele said she lost her four children and her husband when their house was destroyed. She said she was spared because she had been away at work.
                 
Other residents told The Associated Press they feared the toll would be higher as searches continued for missing people.
                 
Security Minister Alian Guillaume Bunyoni during a visit to affected neighborhoods said authorities would install provisional shelters for those who lost their homes.
                 
Heavy rains in recent weeks across East Africa have killed scores of people. Earlier this month, authorities in Burundi said at least 28 people died in landslides.

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Teenager dies trying to rescue man from flood in Kenya

By Emmanuel Igunza

Anna Nduku heard the cries of a man who was caught in the swollen river

Rescuers in Kenya have retrieved the body of a teenager who drowned as she tried to save a man who had got into trouble as he was crossing a swollen river.

Anna Nduku, 19, fell into the Kandisi river near Ongata Rongai, on the outskirts of the capital, Nairobi, on Tuesday.

She is one of more than 130 people who have died as a result of the flooding caused by the heavy rains that have been falling since October.

Ms Nduku was responding to the cries of help of a man who was clinging to part of a bridge that was under construction.

The man survived but as she tried to save him she fell into the river.

The river was swollen and she was being tossed and tossed around"

Elizabeth Mutuku

Anna Nduku's mother

Ms Nduku's mother, Elizabeth Mutuku, was nearby when the accident happened.

"I saw her struggling in the water and I tried to save her. I called out to her 'Anna, Anna!'.

"I wanted to throw her a stick to try and pull her out. But the river was swollen and she was being tossed and tossed around and then it swept her away."

The river was overflowing after a huge downpour that began on Monday. This is part of the rain that has been seen across East Africa in recent weeks.

Residents say this is just the latest in a series of accidents that have seen several people being swept away over the last two years.

An old bridge was removed in 2017 and the new one has not yet been finished. This has meant that residents have been wading through the water and using stepping stones to cross over.

They come and grieve with you but do nothing... Today it is my sister, who will be next?"

Maryam Zenneth

Anna Nduku's sister

Ms Nduku's older sister, Maryam Zenneth, blamed the local authorities for failing to finish the crucial link between her village and the main market town of Ongata Rongai.

"Many people are dying and they are sitting and watching people die," she angrily told the media correspondent.

"They come and grieve with you but do nothing... Today it is my sister, who will be next?

"This bridge is the main highway for kids who are going to school. Why did they remove the bridge to start building another one and they aren't finishing it?"

People climb on the unfinished bridge in order to cross over the river

The local authority has not responded to media request for comment.

Reflecting on the life of her daughter, her mother is left heartbroken: "I am really sad. She would have been a future leader or a future teacher. To lose a life like this because of a bridge is just painful."

More rain is predicted to hit the country in the coming days, and the government is advising that anyone who lives in areas that are predicted to be badly affected should move to a safer place.

Elsewhere in the region, six people have died in the east of Uganda following mudslides after two days of near constant rain and 50 people are still missing.

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