JAKARTA, Indonesia — Torrential rains that overwhelmed a dam and caused a landslide have killed 6 people and displaced hundreds in the central Indonesian district of Gowa, an official said Wednesday.
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Torrential rains that overwhelmed a dam and caused a landslide have killed 6 people and displaced hundreds in the central Indonesian district of Gowa, an official said Wednesday.
The dead included two infants who drowned and a man who was electrocuted after the floods began late Tuesday, said Adnan Purichta Ichsann, the chief of Gowa district in South Sulawesi.
Rescuers were still evacuating residents to shelters at a government office and mosques, Ichsann said.
Staff at the Bili Bili dam, a rock-fill embankment dam, didn’t have time to provide advance warning of the water release, he said.
“Torrential rain caused a dam to be overwhelmed by water, forcing us to open it to prevent a greater danger. This is what caused flooding in some areas,” Ichsann said.
Deadly landslides and floods are a frequent occurrence during seasonal rains in Indonesia.
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The story has been corrected to show the flooded district is in South Sulawesi.
