Floods on Indonesia’s holiday island of Bali have killed at least nine this week and affected 600 people, blocking off major roads in the capital and disrupting a busy travel destination, officials said.
Continuous heavy rains between Tuesday evening and Wednesday caused the floods and killed five people in Bali’s capital Denpasar, Abdul Muhari, the spokesperson of the country’s disaster mitigation agency said in a statement.
Four more people were killed in the regions of Jembrana, Gianyar, and Badung, Abdul added. Two people were still missing. Out of 600 people affected, nearly 200 have been evacuated to schools and mosques because their houses were still flooded, the agency said.
Torrential rains on Tuesday and Wednesday caused floods in Denpasar and six of Bali’s eight regions, blocking major roads, including access to the island’s international airport. There were also landslides in some areas.
Most of the deaths occurred when people were swept away after rivers burst their banks, Abdul said.
No foreigners were among the casualties, the agency said. There were no reports of flight cancellations on Thursday.
Rescuers are still pumping water out of several flooded buildings and around 500 military personnel have been deployed to clear streets of mud, debris and rocks.
“The peak of the rain has passed and generally the waters have receded. Now, we are focusing on clearing mud from the streets.”
Heavy rain also caused flooding in Indonesia’s East Nusa Tenggara where four people were killed.
