Water from flooded rivers penetrated through nine villages in the Indonesian province of Central Java, and landslides fell on mountain villages after stormy rains.
Videos and photos released by the National Search and Rescue Agency show workers desperately digging in villages where roads and green terraced rice paddies have been turned into murky brown mud and villages covered in thick mud, rocks and uprooted trees.
National Disaster Management Agency spokesman Abdul Muhari said Monday’s floods triggered a landslide that buried two houses and a cafe in the Petungkriyono resort area.
The disaster destroyed 25 houses, a dam and three main bridges connecting villages in Pekalongan town. At least 21 people were killed, 13 injured, and nearly 300 were forced to flee to temporary government shelters.
Dozens of rescue workers pulled out three mud-encrusted bodies, including a five-month-old baby, as they searched the Petungkriyono area where tons of mud and rocks buried two houses and a cafe.
Another body was recovered from under a broken bridge near the river in Kasimpar village. Rescuers are still searching for five missing persons.
Heavy seasonal rains from October to March often cause floods and landslides in Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile floodplains.
