Indonesia floods kill at least 25

JAKARTA, Indonesia – Boats ferried supplies to desperate residents of Indonesia’s flood-stricken capital on Sunday as rivers burst their banks after days of rain. At least 25 people have been killed and almost 340,000 forced from their homes, officials said.

Storm waters that inundated scores of residential areas and shopping districts late last week were still almost 10 feet deep in places today, according to witnesses and Anwar Arifin, an official with Jakarta’s flood information center.

“As of today, 75 percent of Jakarta remains flooded,” Arifin said. The death toll from flooding in the capital had reached 25 as of today, he added, mostly by drowning or electrocution.

Jakarta’s heavily criticized governor said he could not be held responsible for the worst floods to hit the city of 12 million in living memory, saying they were a natural phenomenon.

“There is no point in throwing abuse around,” Gov. Sutiyoso, who like many Indonesians uses one name, told el-Shinta radio station. “I was up till 3 a.m. this morning trying to handle the refugees.”

Hundreds of people scrambled to the second floors of their houses to escape the rising waters. Some found themselves trapped, while others refused to leave despite warnings that the muddy flood waters – running over 13 feet deep in places – may rise farther in the coming days.

Indonesia’s meteorological agency is forecasting two weeks of rain.

The government dispatched medical teams on rubber rafts into the worst-hit districts to prevent outbreaks of disease among residents without clean drinking water.

Survivors told of being stranded by the surging waters. “We were starving for two days,” said Sri Hatyati, who was rescued from her house by soldiers on a dinghy Sunday on the city’s western outskirts. “All we had were dried noodles. We were unable to go anywhere.”

Rain started falling Thursday on Jakarta and the hills south of the city, triggering the worst floods in recent memory. Tens of thousands of homes, school and hospitals – in poor and wealthy districts alike – were inundated.

Authorities have cut off electricity and the water supply in many districts.

Dr. Rustam Pakaya, from the health ministry’s crisis center, said nearly 340,000 people had been forced from their homes. He said many of the homeless were staying with friends or family or at mosques and government buildings.

“We fear that diarrhea and dysentery may break out, as well as illnesses spread by rats,” Pakaya said. “People must be careful not to drink dirty water.”

There was little rainfall over Jakarta on Sunday, but downpours over the southern hills caused rivers to swell across the city, prompting authorities to open flood gates.

Sutiyoso, who was criticized when the city was flooded five years ago, blamed deforestation in Puncak, saying it had destroyed water catchment areas.

Environment Minister Racmat Witoelar blamed poor urban planning.