Four killed in East Java`s landslides

Ngawi, East Java, Globalnews - Four people of a family were killed in a landslide triggered by rain in Polo hamlet, Hargosari village, Sine subdistrict, Ngawi district, East Java, early on Wednesday.

The four dead victims were identified as Suparman (40, husband), Suwarti (36, wife), Linda (10, daughter) and David (1.5, son).

Chief the Crime Affairs Unit of Ngawi`s Police, Adj. Comnr. Wayan Murtika said here on Wednesday that the incessant rain that fell since Tuesday had triggered the landslides which killed four residents.

"A family of four was trapped inside of their house when the mud slid down and buried them," he said.

In the meantime, floods also inundated hundreds of houses and cut off roads in Ngawi`s neighbouring districts of Madiun and Trenggalek.

In Madiun, incessant heavy rains triggered floods and cut off main roads. Floodwaters reaching a height of up to one meter submerged a number of neighborhoods such as Kelun, Kartoharjo, Rejomulyo, Kepatihan, Madiun Lor, Nambangan Kidul, and Gading.

"Floodwaters have continued to rise since this morning, and a number of houses have been submerged," Rudi Supriyanto, a local resident of Nambangan Kidul, Mangunhardjo subdistrict, said on Wednesday.

A number of school buildings in Madiun were also inundated forcing the students to stay at home.

"I was told by my teacher to go home because my school is flooded," Santi, a student of Nambangan Kidul 5 elementary school, said.

In the meantime, hundreds of houses at three villages in Trenggalek district, were under water on flooded after two days of torrential rain.

Although there was no further report on casualties and damages, the flood waters had covered some roads, cutting off land communications between Trenggalek and the nearby Ponorogo district.

Official said that as of Wednesday morning, flood waters in Sukorejo, Gondang, and Nglongsor villages had risen to about one meter high.

"The flood waters have inundated rice fields and hundreds of houses in those three villages," Difa, one of the flood victims at Gondang village, Tugu subdistrict, said.

Difa added that the floods this time had reminded him of flash floods and landslides which swept through villages in Trenggalek district in April 2006 which claimed 27 lives and destroyed thousands of houses. (Ant)