A puting beliung (whirlwind) damaged at least five homes in North Central Timor regency, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), on Saturday.

The strong wind hit Humusu Saniup village in North Insana district, North Central Timor, at 11 a.m. local time.

“The whirlwind was accompanied by heavy rain,” North Central Timor Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) head Yosefina Lake said on Sunday, as reported by kompas.com.

No casualties were reported. Affected residents took shelter in the homes of their relatives and neighbors.

Yosefina said authorities had yet to calculate the material losses caused by the whirlwind, but she estimated that the recovery would cost hundreds of millions of rupiah.

“Emergency disaster aid will be disbursed on Monday in the form of zinc roofing and staple foods,” she said.

On Thursday, a strong whirlwind caused heavy damage to about 50 homes in Gunung Kidul regency, Yogyakarta. The incident did not result in casualties, but residents were forced to take shelter, Kompas TV reported.

The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has warned the public about the ongoing La Niña climactic phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean, which tends to cause extreme weather, including whirlwinds, in the archipelago.

A puting beliung hit Bekasi municipality and regency in West Java earlier on Oct. 23 afternoon, causing damage to hundreds of houses in several districts.

Twitter handle @InfoBekasi uploaded footage of the whirlwind recorded by residents at Pondok Ungu Permai residential complex in North Bekasi district, Bekasi municipality. The footage shows the puting beliung destroying several food stalls.

According to the Bekasi BPBD, the whirlwind occurred at 1:10 p.m. local time.

BPBD official Karsono said at least 123 houses had been damaged in Central Kaliabang subdistrict in North Bekasi.

“Ten houses are heavily damaged, while the rest sustained minor to moderate damage,” he said on Friday, as quoted by wartakota.tribunnews.com.

Karsono added that the whirlwind had cut off power and telecommunication networks in the district.

Rescuers responded to the situation by setting up shelters for residents whose houses were heavily damaged.

Meanwhile, another small whirlwind struck Babelan Kota village and Bahagia subdistrict in Babelan district, Bekasi regency. Budi Sutrisno of the Bekasi Regency BPBD said dozens of houses were damaged in the two regions.

He went on to say that at least 63 houses and one restaurant suffered damage from the incident on Friday. (trn/aly)