Indonesia evacuates thousands of people from flood-hit West Java

More than 28,000 residents in four villages in Bekasi district and 34 villages in Karawang district are affected by the floods, spokesperson for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency said.

Indonesian women sit on the back of a three-wheeled motorcycle carrying their belongings to high ground at an area flooded after the embankment of Citarum River burst, in Bekasi, Indonesia, Monday, on February 22, 2021.
AP

Indonesian women sit on the back of a three-wheeled motorcycle carrying their belongings to high ground at an area flooded after the embankment of Citarum River burst, in Bekasi, Indonesia, Monday, on February 22, 2021.

Thousands of residents are being evacuated on the outskirts of Indonesia's capital amid flooding after the Citarum River embankment broke, officials have said.

Bekasi district in Indonesia’s West Java province has experienced flooding since Saturday because of heavy rain.

“Some embankments are broken, not only from the river embankment but also from the irrigation embankments,” Public Works and Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono said on Monday.

Rescuers from the National Search and Rescue Agency have been deployed.

READ MORE: Massive floods kill several in Indonesia's capital

Reuters

People use a cart to move a motorbike through the water in an area affected by floods following heavy rains in Jakarta, Indonesia, on February 20, 2021. Antara Foto/Aprillio Akbar/ via REUTERS

Dozens of villages affected

Raditya Jati, spokesperson for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, said that more than 28,000 residents in four villages in Bekasi district and 34 villages in Karawang district are affected by the floods. 

At least 4,184 people are being evacuated.

Thousands of houses in the area are covered with 100 to 250 centimetres of water and are without power.

Seasonal rains and high tides in recent days have caused dozens of landslides and widespread flooding across much of Indonesia, a chain of 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile flood plains close to rivers.

READ MORE: Torrential rains set off deadly landslide in Indonesia

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