100,000 displaced by floods in Indonesian capital

JAKARTA (AFP) - At least five people have been killed in floods in Jakarta with more than 100,000 others forced to camp out at roadsides and in emergency shelters after days of torrential downpours.

With more rain forecast, disaster officials said they were struggling to cope. Hundreds of troops and navy personnel equipped with inflatable boats and rafts were deployed to help the capital's worst-hit areas.

"We have done the optimum effort to evacuate people but because of the number and the vast area to cover we hope people understand (the problems we are facing)," Sugeng Triutomo from the national disaster management body (Bakornas) told ElShinta radio.

More than 100,000 people had been displaced by the rainy-season floods, the state Antara news agency reported, citing Bakornas figures.

Bakornas official Sunardi said five people were killed and tens of thousands of homes flooded.

"We have yet to count offices, school buildings and hospitals inundated by the floods because we are still focusing on evacuating flood victims," he told Antara as the rains started again Saturday evening.

Hundreds of families were seen huddled together by roads on higher ground after fleeing their flooded homes in the city, which is criss-crossed by 13 rivers.

Water up to two metres (more than six feet) submerged areas of the city, including the upmarket Kelapa Gading housing complex in the north, which is usually less prone to flooding.

"I had to put my motorcycle in the university out there and walk in the floods to my house last night (Friday)," Kelapa Gading resident Najmi said.

"The water in front of my house is about one metre. We have been trapped here since yesterday morning," he told AFP Saturday.

Several other Kelapa Gading residents called ElShinta, saying some old people and pregnant women were trapped in their houses and needed evacuation.

Water, electricity supplies and telecommunications have been cut in several areas of the city due to the floods.

Search and rescue workers and nurses in inflatable boats were offering medical help to flood victims along the main Ciliwung river, Hadianto, head of the independent Jakarta Rescue group said.

"Areas that we go to are very far from the reach of cars. We have to hop from roof to roof of people's houses," he told AFP.

Hadianto said the main complaints so far were diarrhoea and skin problems, with children and old people suffering the most.

Indonesian Red Cross and other volunteers were cooking and delivering food to the thousands of people stranded in their flooded homes or sheltering at the side of roads.

City water control officials warned that the floods could worsen, with continuing rains in nearby Bogor city expected to exacerbate the situation by nightfall.

"Katulampa watergate is 70 centimetres (28 inches) above normal and the water level is rising," a Jakarta water control officer told AFP, referring to the main sluice gate controlling the flow of water from Bogor, which is at a higher elevation.

More rain was forecast over the weekend.

Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar blamed the floods on excessive construction in water catchment areas, Antara reported.

"There are too many malls in the capital city," he said, complaining that many developers had not paid enough attention to the ecological impact of construction projects.

Old Batavia, the former colonial port under the Dutch from where Jakarta has expanded, was built on marshland and some areas of the capital are below sea level.

In 2002, floods killed up to 40 people and some 300,000 were forced to seek refuge in mosques, schools and even cemeteries.

19 dead as tornado blasts lethal path across central Florida

LADY LAKE, Unnited States (AFP) - Rescue workers are picking over rubble searching for bodies after Florida's deadliest storm in almost a decade let loose a tornado that obliterated hundreds of homes and killed at least 19 people, authorities said.

State governor Charlie Crist declared a state of emergency in four counties after pre-dawn storms Friday carved a trail of destruction and death, wrapping metal around trees and launching some victims into neighboring homes.

"The devastation is unimaginable," an emotional Crist told CNN television after touring the scene. "It's like a bomb went off in central Florida."

There were 13 fatalities in Paisley and six in Lady Lake, Christopher Patton, a spokesman for Lake County told AFP Saturday.

Typical of the often surreal aftermath of a direct tornado hit, the twister hopped and jumped across the pancake-flat landscape, grinding some homes into dust, while leaving a next-door neighbor virtually unscathed.

The storms hit around 3.30 am (0880 GMT Friday) as most people slept, and as few had any warning, many residents were stunned the toll was not higher.

Lake County school superintendent Anna Cowin said two of her students had been confirmed dead. "One family was hit with much tragedy. Both parents were killed. There are four in the family and one of their children also died," she said.

The director of Lake County emergency services, Jerry Smith, told a news conference the search continued for survivors. "We are doing house-to-house searches at this time," he said.

A area of some 51 square kilometers (20 square miles) was ravaged by the storms.

"There are probably thousands of homes in that area. It's going to take a significant amount of time to get specific answers about how much damage is in that area," he said.

An estimated 13,000 people were left without electricity after the storm, which uprooted trees, and felled power lines.

Residents likened the storms to a freight train that roared and slammed into their homes.

"It woke me out of a dead sleep," local resident David Wholly told the Orlando Sentinel newspaper. "I heard the noise, and it sounded like a train coming, and I ran to the bathroom. The tree went right through the bedroom window where my head was."

Television images showed the ground littered with the debris of scores of homes, with residents sifting through the remains of their belongings. Many were in shock and desperate to find any souvenir of normality -- a family memento, or a picture frame.

Search and rescue teams worked to free survivors. "They are having to get emergency equipment to help lift walls to search for injured persons," said Christie Mysinger, a spokeswoman for the Lake County sheriff's office.

Sheriff Gary Borders said two persons were reported missing.

Crist's declaration of a state of emergency frees up emergency supplies and funding.

"The state emergency operations center obviously is in full mode. ... Our priority today is search and rescue," Crist told reporters.

He said the White House, heavily criticized for its failure to respond swiftly to the devastating Hurricane Katrina in 2005, pledged its "full support." President George W. Bush "was very encouraging and said that we should expect help very soon," Crist added.

Florida Representative Tom Feeney (news, bio, voting record) said a 30-person assessment team was in place "and trucks filled with water, food and ice are headed to the devastated areas."

Authorities opened shelters for those left homeless.

The Lady Lake Church of God was completely destroyed, an AFP photographer said. Parishoners said they hoped to hold a service Sunday, under the open sky.

Experts said the severe weather was spawned by El Nino, which occurs when water in the eastern Pacific Ocean becomes unusually warm and can trigger storms over the southern United States.

"This was a pretty classic El Nino event," said Robert Molleda, National Weather Service warnings coordinator for South Florida.

Friday's storms struck on the ninth anniversary of Florida's ferocious "Groundhog Day Storm" of 1998, when seven tornadoes and fierce storms killed 42 people in Florida.

In December, more than a dozen people were injured and more than 200 homes destroyed when storms and tornadoes ripped through the same area of central Florida.

The area of devastation is northwest of the Walt Disney World Resort, which was not affected by the bad weather.