Security forces tried to speed recovery efforts in
Indonesia, home to most of the fatalities with 91 dead, by removing debris from
blocked roads and fixing bridges.
In Vietnam, the death toll nearly doubled to 48 after disaster
officials were finally able to access areas that had been cut off by high
waters. Another 23 people remained missing as villagers started returning to
areas where the water was receding.
“People are cleaning their houses and trying to put life
back to normal,” said disaster official Nguyen Ngoc Giai in hardest-hit Quang
Binh province, where 20,000 people were driven from their homes. “Many schools
are also doing cleanup to soon welcome back students.”
Parts of the country’s north-south rail service have been
disrupted since Tuesday due to damaged tracks, and Giai said bad weather
Wednesday grounded helicopters making supply and food drops to areas still
under water.
Forecasters were predicting more rain, but it was not
expected to cause severe flooding.
Meanwhile, the worst flooding to strike parts of southern
China in nearly half a century left one person dead and three missing and
forced 213,000 people from their homes, the country’s state media reported.
Heavy rains lashed the island province of Hainan, forcing
550 villages to flee, leaving thousands homeless with streets inundated and
roads damaged, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. The People’s Daily
website reported the death and the missing.
At least 7 inches (18 centimeters) of rain fell in 16 cities
over the past week, the Hainan provincial government website said. More rains
and strong winds are expected through Friday.
Further south in Indonesia, rescuers in West Papua province
searching for survivors cleared away debris in the hardest-hit village of
Wasior where residents had been swept away earlier this week by mudslides and
flooding after a river burst its banks. Efforts were hindered by blocked roads
and damaged bridges.
Ninety-one bodies have been pulled from the mud and wreckage
of crumpled homes, said Dortheis Sawaki, head of the province’s relief
operations’ office, adding that with more than 100 others reported missing, the
toll was expected to rise.
More than 150 others have been hospitalized with injuries,
mostly broken bones.
