Floods kill 4, displace over 4,000 in Indonesia

JAKARTA - Floods hitting East Java province of Indonesia since last weekend have left four people dead and forced more than 4,000 others to take shelters, a disaster agency official said here on Tuesday.

The Solo and Lamong rivers bloated by days of torrential rains burst their banks and submerged several areas in the districts of Bojonegoro, Gresik, Tuban and Lamongan, said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman for the National Disaster Management and Mitigation agency.

"In Mojokerto...two people were dead and in Gresik two others ( have) been killed, they were swept away by the currents," he told Xinhua by phone.

The official said that the waters are likely to flood in other high lands in the province, while the evacuees have been taking shelters in buildings and tents at the higher grounds as about 15, 000 houses have been inundated.

The floods also submerged about 2,000 hectares of rice fields, he added.

Seasonal downpours often incur floods each year in Indonesia, a chain of 17,500 islands where over millions of people live in flood-prone plains that are close to rivers.