By Xinhua,
JAKARTA : Floods have inundated 472 houses and a mosque in Lamongan District, East Java province in Indonesia.
The flood waters also submerged 123 hectares of crops fields and 34 hectares of rice fields, Antara news agency Friday quoted Aris Wibawa, a spokesman of the Lamongan District administration, as saying in a press statement.
“Until now, we are still collecting data to know the material losses inflicted by the natural disaster,” Wibawa said.
The Lamongan authorities had sent relief aid consisting among other things of rice and other staple foods to help flood victims, he said.
Meanwhile, a whirlwind hit three sub districts, which were being inundated by floods, in Takalar District, South Sulawesi, on Thursday.
Some 54 houses in Polongbangkeng Selatan (Polsel), Pattallassang and Polongbangkeng Utara sub districts were seriously damaged by the strong wind. The current rainy season hastriggered floods and landslides in various parts of Indonesia, including in East Java, Central Java, West Java, South Sulawesi, East Kalimantan, and Aceh provinces.
La Nina, which is developing into Northern Hemisphere Spring 2009, is expected to cause above-average precipitation over Indonesia, during January-March 2009, according to the US NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center (CPC) recently.