20 killed in floods, landslides in Indonesia island

Indonesia: At least 20 villagers have been killed and 14 others missing after torrential rains causing floods and landslides hits the Indonesian island of Java, an official says.

17 people were found dead and 14 others were missing in worst-hit district of West Java's Garut, after two rivers overflowed on Tuesday night.

The National Disaster Management Mitigation Agency said the dead in Garut included an eight-month-old baby and eight other children.
Spokesman for the Agency, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said about 1000 villagers were evacuated to army barracks and other temporary shelters.

Purwo said three villagers were killed in Sumedang district and one person was missing after landslides buried two houses and destroyed a mosque adding that about 100 villagers were evacuated.

Purwo also said that more than 30 villagers were injured in the two districts.

Heavy downpours were expected to continue and increase until January, partly because of La Nina, the flip side of El Nino, which has a general cooling effect said Purwo.