Indonesia: Death toll from Jakarta flooding rises to 53

By Jeyhun Aliyev

ANKARA (AA) - The death toll from severe flooding and landslides that struck the Indonesian capital Jakarta over the New Year rose to 53, the state-run disaster management authority said Saturday.

"The number of victims of floods and landslides that hit Jakarta, Banten and West Java has increased," the Indonesian National Disaster Management Agency (BNDP) said in a written statement.

The agency also said that one person was still missing, adding that the new casualties had been in the Lebak region on Java island and the town of Bogor south of Jakarta.

The BNDP also noted that the identity of five people who died in Bogor was still unknown.

Search and rescue efforts are ongoing in the region.

Earlier on Friday, the BNDP spokesman Agus Wibowo told reporters that the deaths had been caused by hypothermia, drowning, electric shocks and landslides.

The country's Meteorology and Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) predicted that heavy rains would continue to hit Jakarta and nearby towns until Jan. 10.

A total of 169 areas across Indonesia were reported on Wednesday to have been overwhelmed by floods, with 63 in Jakarta, 97 in West Java and nine regions affected in the western Banten province.

The BMKG recorded rainfall intensity on New Year's Eve at 377 millimeters (15 inches) per day, the highest since 2007 when it reached 340 mm per day.

Located in the equatorial belt, Indonesia with its tropical climate often suffers from flash floods and landslides, mainly triggered by monsoon rainfall between October and April.