Flooding in parts of the popular resort island of Bali prompted hundreds of people, including dozens of tourists, to seek safety, a local disaster official said.
Intense rains triggered flooding since late Monday across several Bali districts and the provincial capital city of Denpasar, said local disaster mitigation agency senior official I Gede Agung Teja Bhusana Yadnya.
There were no fatalities, he said.
Waters inundated facilities such as cafes and gas stations in the Badung district and forced some tourists to be evacuated on rubber boats.
“We are here to visit Bali Zoo... so we were trying to visit the elephants, but due to this condition, we couldn’t do this,” said 28-year-old Mexican national Briana Palacios.
Gede said that about 30 foreign tourists were evacuated from the flooding, noting that some tourists moved to other hotels or later returned to their accommodation.
In total, about 350 people temporarily sought safety amid rising waters, Gede said, adding that most of the people returned to their homes as waters receded.
Torrential rains also forced two international flights to Bali’s airport to be diverted, while three other departures from the airport were delayed, an airport spokesman said in a statement.
In September, a flash flood that struck parts of Bali killed at least 18 people and left four missing in what the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said was the island’s worst flood in a decade. — AFP
