S

outh Sulawesi continued to be battered by natural disasters on Tuesday as strong winds compounded several days of flooding, devastating hundreds of houses in five regencies and claiming two lives.

Falling trees caused the deaths of two victims in the regencies of Pangkep and Pinrang on Monday evening. The regencies of Enrekang, Gowa and Maros were also hit by the strong storm.

“The number of damaged houses is being calculated,” Mappagio, the chief of the South Sulawesi Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD), said on Tuesday.

Preliminary data shows that 40 houses and a market were damaged in Maros and another 20 houses were damaged in Gowa.

Daeng Nurung, 47, a resident of Gowa said that the storm hit the area at 5:30 p.m. local time.

“Initially it was sprinkling and suddenly there was a loud noise. Several seconds later, strong winds came and hit the houses,” Daeng said.

Part of Daeng’s roof was torn off, similar to several other area homes.

Strong winds were then followed by heavy rains, which forced residents to evacuate to safer locations.

On Tuesday, residents began repairing their houses with the help of soldiers and volunteers.

Meanwhile, the death toll from flooding in nine regencies and one municipality in the province rose to 15 as of Tuesday, according to figures from South Sulawesi’s BPBD, though floodwaters in many have begun to subside.

In Makassar, several locations were still submerged in water nearly 1 meter deep, like the Antang housing complex in Manggala district, the Bumi Tamanrea Permai complex and the area of Swadaya.

In Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara, incessant rains showered Lombok Island from Monday evening until Tuesday morning, causing the Kelep River to overflow its banks and inundate dozens of houses in Sekotong Tengah village in West Lombok.

One village resident, Inaq Irup, 85, was killed after being swept away by strong currents.

“Her body was discovered at the river’s mouth by local search and rescue team members,” said Sekotong district head Lalu Edy Sadikin, adding that her body had been handed over to her family for burial.

Edy explained that heavy rains had fallen in the Sekotong area since Monday evening.

“No one was evacuated because the flooding subsided on Tuesday morning,” he said, adding that assistance was immediately sent to the victims in the form of rice, instant noodles and other necessities.