More Than 80 Died Due to Flash Floods in Nusa Tenggara Barat

Flores, MINA – Deputy Governor of East Nusa Tenggara Josef Nae Soi said at least 80 people died due to flash floods in East Flores and Lembata.

The death toll consisted of 18 people in Lembata and more than 60 people in East Flores.

Josef also said more than 100 people were still being searched in the two districts.

“Whether they (the missing victims) ran to your place, were they buried, we don’t know yet,” said Josef by telephone to Anadolu Agency, Monday.

He continued the number kof victims might still increase because the evacuation process was still ongoing until this news was written.

Flash floods hit the two regions after heavy rains caused by tropical cyclones around the NTT region in the early hours of Sunday.

The tropical cyclone also caused a number of other areas in NTT to be affected by flooding and high waves.

Josef said that the city of Kupang was flooded and a ship that was leaning on the harbor sank due to high waves.

“So far there have been no reports of casualties (in Kupang),” said Josef.

Meanwhile, the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) also said that as many as 475 families were affected and 165 people were displaced due to flooding in East Sumba Regency, NTT which inundated four sub-districts.

The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) stated that extreme weather still has the potential to occur in NTT until April 9, 2021. (T/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)