Star Metro - Bali flooding prompts tourist evacuation: official

Intense rains triggered flooding since late Monday across several Bali districts and the provincial capital city of Denpasar, said local disaster mitigation agency senior official I Gede Agung Teja Bhusana Yadnya.

There were no fatalities, he said.

Waters inundated facilities such as cafes and gas station in the Badung district and forced some tourists to be evacuated on rubber boats.

"We are here to visit Bali Zoo... so we were trying to visit the elephants but due to this condition we couldn’t do this," 28-year-old Mexican national Briana Palacios told AFP.

Gede told AFP that about 30 foreign tourists were evacuated from the flooding on Tuesday, noting that some tourists moved to other hotels or later returned to their accommodations.

In total, about 350 people temporarily sought safety amid rising waters Tuesday, Gede said, adding that most of the people returned to their homes as waters receded.

Torrential rains also forced two international flights to Bali’s airport to be diverted earlier Tuesday, while three other departures from the airport were delayed, an airport spokesman said in a statement.

In September, a flash flood that struck parts of Bali killed at least 18 people and left four missing in what the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said was the island’s worst flood in a decade.

O.Gauthier--SMC