TEMPO.CO, Kupang – Floods have hit five regencies in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT): Malaka, Belu, Sikka, Rote Ndao and Timor Tengah Utara (TTU).
“Flooding at the beginning of January 2015 has claimed four lives,” NTT Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) chief Tini Tahdeus told Tempo on Tuesday, January 6, 2014. One of the victims hailed from Rote Nado, while the rest were from TTU.
Tini said the flood in Malaka regency resulted from a heavy downpour that triggered the Benanain River to overflow. “The flood in Malaka still inundates homes and farmlands of the locals,” she said.
Tini said the flood in Rote Ndao killed a child, who was swept to death by the flood currents. In Sikka and Belu regencies, meanwhile, tidal floods struck hundreds of homes.
Tini continued the flood in TTU took the lives of three locals: two children and an adult. No reports yet on the losses from the flooding.
“We are still calculating the material losses,” Tini said.
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