SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Rescuers searched for dozens of people missing in remote islands of southeast Indonesia on Tuesday while expecting more casualties in the aftermath of a tropical cyclone that has killed more than 150 people and leaving thousands more homeless.
Torrential rains from Tropical Cyclone Seroja turned small communities into wastelands of mud, uprooted trees and sent around 10,000 people fleeing to shelters across the neighboring Southeast Asian nations, AFP reported.
AFP cited Indonesia’s disaster management agency as saying it had recorded 130 deaths in a cluster of remote islands near East Timor, where another 27 have been officially listed as dead.
Helicopters were deployed to aid the search for survivors among 72 people reported missing so far in the East Nusa Tenggara islands.
Authorities said the death toll could rise as rescuers reach more isolated areas, according to Reuters.
Reuters said at least 8,424 people were displaced, nearly 2,000 buildings including a hospital impacted, and more than 100 homes heavily damaged by the cyclone, which had moved over the Indian Ocean by Tuesday morning, headed towards northern Australia.
Weather agency head Dwikorita Karnawati said once-rare tropical cyclones were happening more often in Indonesia and climate change could be to blame.
“Seroja is the first time we’re seeing tremendous impact because it hit the land. It’s not common,” Reuters quoted her as saying in a news conference.
Some residents of Lembata island may have been washed away by mud into the sea. The deputy head of the district hoped help was on the way.
“We were only able to search on the seashore, not in the deeper area, because of lack of equipment yesterday,” Thomas Ola Langoday told Reuters by phone.
Hospitals, bridges and thousands of homes were damaged or destroyed by the storm, which is now moving toward the west coast of Australia.
Fatal landslides and flash floods are common across the Indonesian archipelago during the rainy season.
