Merapi cold lava flood buries 21 homes

No one was killed after a flood of volcanic material from Mount Merapi buried 21 houses in Sleman, Central Java, on Saturday night.

Flood waters started entering Agromulyo village early Saturday evening after heavy rains earlier in the afternoon, according to Sri Nurani, a local resident.

“First it was just hot, murky water flowing through a path in the middle of the village, but it started getting stronger and was followed by material such as sand and stone,” she said on Sunday, as quoted by kompas.com.

A family of three that was slow to join the evacuation of area near Gendol River after the rain started reportedly suffered from burns.

Sunaryo, a victim, said that the flood came too quickly for him to escape.

“This is the biggest flood I have ever seen,” he said.

Dozens of motorcycles and several livestock animals were also buried in the flood.