Blontank Poer and Suherdjoko, Semarang – At least 71 people were killed in a landslide early Wednesday morning affecting seven districts in Karanganyar regency, Central Java, while floods inundated farms and rice fields as well as cutting off a number of transportation links.
Tawangmangu district had the largest number fatalities with 37 people dead, many of whom were attending a family gathering in Ledoksari village.
"There were more than 20 people meeting at Suhar's house after cleaning up debris from a smaller landslide occurring at 12:30 a.m.," Ledoksari villager Sumino told The Jakarta Post. "At about 3:30 a.m. a larger landslide swept into Suhar's house and buried the residents."
Still in Karanganyar regency, Jatiyoso district recorded 10 fatalities, followed by Jumapolo district with eight, Jenawi with six, Kerjo district with five, Matesih district with three and Ngargonyoso district with two.
Head of the Central Java National Unity and Community Protection Agency, Ristanto, said floods had occurred in Banyumas, Pekalongan, Tegal, Kudus, Pati, Grobogan, Semarang, Wonogiri, Sragen and Karanganyar regencies. Local authorities are still collecting data on the number of victims.
In Yogyakarta, dozens of houses and hundreds of farms were buried after landslides hit Sleman and Bantul regencies Wednesday morning. There were no casualties reported in the incident.
Floods and landslides also occurred in several regencies in East Java including Gresik, Sidoarjo, Jombang, Malang, Jember, Trenggalek, Madiun, Ponorogo and Pacitan. The disasters caused a number of casualties, harvest failure and cut off some transportation links.
In Malang, four residents of Hargosari Village in Lawu Mountain slope were buried in a landslide. Meanwhile, one sand miner was killed after being caught by flood waters in the Aran-aran River.
Landslides also closed the 56-kilometer main road connecting Malang and Kediri for three hours. Traffic resumed at 9:00 a.m. The flood also disrupted the Ngawi-Magetan railway line, delaying four trains.
A spokesman for state railway operator PT Kereta Api in Madiun, Eko Budiyanto, said the trains were the Gajayana, which serves the Malang-Jakarta route, the Berantas, which serves the Kediri-Jakarta line, the Mutiara Selatan, running Bandung-Surabaya and the Turangga, which serves the Bandung-Surabaya line.
In Pacitan regency, a landslide covered 20 meters of the main road that connects Pacitan and Ponorogo and cut off transportation access between the regencies. A tourist bus was reported to be stuck in the debris.
Floods and landslides also happened in Trenggalek and Jombang regencies and inundated hundreds of houses and rice fields. In Gresik, flood have inundated thousands of houses and public facilities such electricity and telephone networks and roads. Links between Ponorogo and Wonogiri are cut off.
In Surabaya, two fishermen are missing due to a three-meter high wave.
According to head of the maritime meteorology observation station at Surabaya's Tanjung Perak Seaport, Arif Triono, the extreme weather, with heavy rain and high waves, will continue until Dec. 30.
"The sea condition in East Java is similar to the condition last year that caused the Senopati Nusantara ship to sink. We have warned ships' captains and fishermen to be aware of the situation," he told the Post.
Several passenger ships have canceled departures and fishermen have stopped work because of the warning.
[Slamet Susanto, Wahyoe Boediwardhana and Indra Harsaputra contributed to the article from Yogyakarta, Malang and Surabaya.]