JAKARTA: Flash floods across Indonesia’s Bali and Flores islands have claimed 19 lives with five people still missing as rescue operations continue.
National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Abdul Muhari confirmed the rising death toll on Thursday, with Bali accounting for 14 fatalities and two missing persons.
Torrential rainfall since Tuesday triggered devastating floods and landslides across seven districts in Bali, forcing mass evacuations of over 500 residents.
Emergency response teams are conducting search operations while converting schools, village halls and mosques into temporary shelters for displaced families.
Flores island’s Nagekeo district reported five fatalities, including a young child found dead on Thursday, according to local search and rescue agency head Fathur Rahman.
Rescue personnel are utilizing excavators and thermal drone technology to locate three missing individuals in the Nagekeo area.
Weather conditions improved in Bali’s provincial capital Denpasar on Thursday, though meteorological authorities forecast moderate rainfall returning from Friday through Monday.
Indonesia’s annual monsoon season typically brings landslides, flash floods and water-borne diseases between November and April each year.
Climate change has significantly altered storm patterns, increasing both the duration and intensity of monsoon seasons with heavier rainfall and stronger winds.
Environmental organization 350.org described the disaster as demonstrating the urgent threat of climate crisis requiring immediate action from global leaders.
The activist group specifically called upon Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto to implement ambitious emission reduction goals and transition plans to renewable energy.
Indonesia is preparing to submit its emission reduction strategy to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change later this year.
This tragedy follows similar incidents in March when Java island floods killed three people and left five missing across two dozen towns.
Central Java experienced comparable devastation in January when floods and landslides resulted in at least 25 fatalities in one town. – AFP
