Death toll mounts after floods inundate Indonesian villages

JAYAPURA, Indonesia — The number of people killed after torrential downpours triggered flash floods and mudslides that tore through mountainside villages in Indonesia’s easternmost province has climbed to 79, with dozens of others missing, officials said Monday.

On Sunday, the disaster-prone country was also hit by an earthquake, triggering a landslide that hit a waterfall on the tourist island of Lombok, killing at least three people and damaging hundreds of homes.

The worst-hit area from the flooding was Sentani subdistrict, where tons of mud, rocks and trees from a landslide on a mountain Sunday rolled down to a river that burst its banks, sweeping away residents, National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told a news conference in the capital, Jakarta.

Floodwaters and landslides destroyed roads and bridges in several areas of Papua province’s Jayapura district following days of torrential rains, Nugroho said.

“The combination of natural factors and human activities has caused this fatal disaster,” he said.

Nugroho said 79 bodies had been pulled from the mud and wreckage of crumpled homes. Another 74 people were hospitalized, many with broken bones and head wounds.

Nugroho said the number of dead and injured would likely increase since affected areas had not been reached and rescuers were still searching for dozens of people still missing.

“We are overwhelmed by too many injuries,” said Haerul Lee, the head of the Jayapura health office, adding that some medical facilities had been hit by power outages. “We can’t handle it alone.”

Nugroho said rescuers evacuated more than 4,200 people to temporary shelters as more than 600 houses and buildings were damaged and submerged.

Television footage showed rescuers and members of...