Flood death toll passes 20 in Indonesia's Sumatra

JAKARTA, Dec 24 (Reuters) Floods in Indonesis's Aceh and North Sumatra provinces have left at least 22 people dead and six missing, Health Ministry official Rustam Pakaya told Reuters today.

Casualty counts were still coming in from Aceh and North Sumatra provinces, hardest hit by heavy rains that sent streams overflowing their banks, with the effects of the downpours made worse by deforestation.

A government official in Aceh Tamiang district had reported to the ministry 11 people were carried away by the raging waters and 17 houses were washed out.

In Aceh the floods have affected five districts, injured hundreds of people, and forced tens of thousands to flee their homes.

Almost exactly two years ago, on Dec. 26, 2004, Aceh was hit by the Indian Ocean tsunami, which left some 170,000 dead or missing in the province.

In Langkat, North Sumatra, 10 people had died from this month's flooding while three are missing, Pakaya told Reuters by telephone.

Syam Sumarno, a spokesman for Langkat regency, blamed heavy rains that began on Friday as well as the deforestation of the region for the devastation. Lack of forest means the ground is less capable of retaining some of the water.

In Langkat, nearly 6,000 people are in temporary residences at shelters while in Aceh the number is close to 50,000, Pakaya said.

More people were leaving their homes in mountainous areas on Sunday.

''They are worried that there will be landslides,'' Pakaya said.

North Sumatra information agency chief Eddy Syofyan was quoted by Antara state news agency as saying some roads connecting North Sumatra and Aceh had been cut by floods.

The governor of North Sumatra, Rudolf M Pardede, has asked state oil company Pertamina to supply such community needs as kerosene at the shelters.

Relief aid was flowing to affected areas from various crisis centres, along with health services to prevent illnesses such as diarrhoea.

In Malaysia, across the trait of Malacca from Sumatra, the worst floods in 37 years have displaced nearly 100,000 people amid food shortages, looting and criticism on Saturday of the government's handling of the crisis.

Malaysian weathermen warned the floods that hit southern states could spread to central and northeastern parts of the country if the unusually heavy monsoon rains persisted.

The rains over the Malaysian states of Johor, Negeri Sembilan, Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang were expected to continue till today, the weather bureau has said.

As of Saturday at least six Malaysians, all in the worst-hit state of Johor, had died in the floods, which the government described as the worst since 1969.

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