Two people are still missing on the nation’s resort island of Bali, officials said, as floodwaters began to recede after killing at least 18 people this week, most of them swept away when rivers burst their banks.
Torrential rains on Tuesday and Wednesday caused the fast- rising floods in Denpasar and six of Bali’s eight regions, blocking major roads and access to Bali’s international airport. There were also landslides in some areas.
Indonesia’s disaster agency said in a statement that the death toll has risen to 18 from a previous 16 and the search for the two missing is still ongoing.
Rapid development on the island has not taken into account the need for sufficient drainage infrastructure, said I Nyoman Gede Maha Putra, an architecture and planning expert at the Warmadewa University in Denpasar.
“The city planning does not consider disasters,” he told Reuters. “All of the infrastructure construction is geared toward making Bali more attractive to tourists and investors.” — Reuters
