Jakarta flood death toll rises to 60; over 92,000 homeless

Jakarta: The death toll due to the floods in the Jakarta metropolitan area has increased to 60, Indonesian authorities said on Sunday, adding that many areas in the capital remain inundated.

The majority of the deaths - 51 - occurred in Jakarta and its satellite cities, the Indonesian National Board for Disaster Management (BNBP) said in its latest statement.

It added that at least two other people were missing, reports Efe news.

The places with highest number of fatalities were Jakarta (16) and Bogor (17), while the rest were distributed between Bekasi (10), Tangerang (five) and Depok (three), in addition to nine others in Lebak, situated just outside the metropolitan area but in the same area in the west of Java island.

More than 92,000 people remain evacuated in temporary shelters in Jakarta`s metropolitan area, where some 30 million people live and which still has many areas waterlogged, according to BNPB.

More than half of the victims died as they were dragged away by floodwaters or buried in landslides due to heavy rain last week that led to the overflow of waterways that cross the capital.

Indonesia`s meteorological agency BMKG issued a warning that heavy rain was expected in the coming week across the country, including Jakarta where cloud seeding has been employed in efforts to keep the rain away from the affected areas.

Floods and landslides affect Indonesia yearly during the rainy season, which peaks between December and February.