Denpasar: The death toll from the recent floods that hit the Indonesian island of Bali has risen to 18, while a number of people remain missing. "The total number of deaths has reached 18, while two more people are still missing," the head of the regional disaster mitigation agency, I Gede Agung, told a press conference.
According to Kuwait News Agency, the capital of Bali, Denpasar, was the most affected city by the flood, which damaged 514 buildings, with estimated losses of 9.28 billion Indonesian rupiah (about 1.76 million US dollars), Agung explained. More than 163 locations were affected by flooding that caused landslides, falling of trees, collapse of bridges and walls, and damage of roads.
Meanwhile, Indonesian Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka visited evacuation centers on the island, calling for urgent treatment of lands to avoid a recurrence of any other natural disasters. He called on local authorities to pay attention to watershed areas and manage sewage and drainage systems.
Rakabuming stressed the importance of the rapid recovery of the tourism sector, which represents a major source of national income, and to ensure that it will regain its activities very soon. Indonesia's National Agency for Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics reported that the hydro climatic disaster was caused by heavy rainfall of 385 mm, equivalent to a month's average, which caused rivers to overflow and submerged residential areas.