By DPA
Jakarta : The toll in a flash flood in Indonesia’s densely populated East Java province reached 14, with dozens of houses destroyed, a health official and local media reports said Sunday.
Hours of heavy downpour caused rivers in the district of Situbondo to overflow, sweep through hundreds of homes and destroy several bridges, the state-run Antara news agency reported.
In the West Java district of Bekasi four people died and three were wounded when an electricity pole was toppled by storms, hitting three motorcycles as they were riding along, Pakaya said.
Rain-triggered floods and landslides swept through Central and East Java provinces in late December, killing more than 100 people, destroying scores of homes and displacing hundreds of thousands.
Indonesia has been repeatedly hit by deadly floods and landslides as years of deforestation have left hillsides vulnerable to collapse.
Environmentalists have warned that logging and a failure to reforest land are to blame. i