Landslides and floods kill at least 15 people in northern Indonesia, inundate 1,000 homes

Rescuers found five more bodies in the mud after flooding and landslides in northern Indonesia, bringing the death toll to 15 after the disaster that sent thousands fleeing for safe ground, police and witnesses said Monday.

Crying relatives watched in horror as residents and rescuers pulled out muddy corpses on Sunday from seven hamlets devastated by landslides and floods in Manado, the capital of North Sulawesi province, while more than 1,000 houses were flooded by an overflowing river.

Rivers bloated by days of rain burst their banks in several parts of Manado, forcing people to leave their flooded homes, said Atotoy. Witnesses said water levels were a yard (meter) high in places.

Residents scrambled to save their most valuable possessions, from television sets to motorbikes. Others carried the elderly through the water or sat on rooftops, waiting for the floods to subside.

Seasonal rains and high tides in recent days have caused widespread flooding across much of Indonesia, the world’s fourth most-populous nation. Millions of people live in mountainous regions and near fertile flood plains that are close to rivers.

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