JAKARTA, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia's National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said on Thursday that massive flood in Indonesia's South Sulawesi province has so far claimed 30 lives and injured 47, with 25 declared missing.
Besides taking residents' lives, BNPB Spokesperson Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said huge scale of the flood has affected 5,825 people, 3,321 of whom sought refuge in shelters.
The flood has submerged 2,694 houses, 11,433 hectares of rice fields, damaged nine bridges, six worship places and 13 schools, Sutopo added.
At least 78 villages in 10 regencies and municipalities were affected by the flood that broke out on Tuesday following torrential rain since Monday.
Cited the updated data as of 2:00 p.m. local time, Sutopo said Gowa regency saw the most severe impact from the flood, with 16 killed, 46 injured and 21 missing.
Sutopo said the number of deaths may rise as the search for those affected by the flood is still in progress. The search operation was carried out by a joint team comprising military, police, disaster mitigation office personnel, volunteers, among others.
He added that BNPB has handed over 1-billion-rupiahs (about 70,500 U.S. dollars) fund to finance the search operation's command post and necessities during the emergency period.
"January to February is the peak of rainy season in most of Indonesia territory. People are highly advised to anticipate possible flood, landslide and whirlwind during the period," Sutopo said.
