Toianas sub-district chief David Kase said the flash floods hit the village in East Nusa Tenggara province on Wednesday after an hour of intense rainfall.

"Fifteen people were killed by the flash floods, and one person is missing," Kase said. "The people here, with the help of several police and military members, are still searching for the missing person."

Kase said about 200 residents of the village have temporarily left their houses and moved to higher ground for fear of more flooding.

At least 148 people were killed after flash floods smashed through Teluk Wondama district in Papua last month.

Floods and landslides are common in Indonesia, which is prone to frequent heavy rain.

earlier related report
Thai flood death toll hits 122
Bangkok (AFP) Nov 4, 2010 - The death toll from Thailand's crippling floods has risen to over 120, officials said Thursday, after the weeks-long crisis spread south and affected tens of thousands more people, including tourists.

Rising waters began to inundate the southern region late Monday after days of heavy downpours, leaving eight dead in Songkhla province, two in Pattani and one each in Satun and Surat Thani provinces.

Thousands of soldiers have been dispatched to the area to help people stranded in their homes after flash floods swept through Hat Yai, a city of more than 150,000 people.

A further three people were also killed in northern areas, where the flooding began on October 10, bringing the nationwide toll to 122, the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation said.

So far more than six million people have been affected, with homes submerged and farmland or cattle destroyed, in what Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has described as "a huge natural calamity".

Waters have receded in most parts of Hat Yai, a city popular with tourists from Singapore and Malaysia.

But more than 100 foreign visitors remained stranded in their hotels early Thursday, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

The government has sent two naval ships to the southern region to provide medical and logistical support for the relief operation.

On Wednesday marine police boats rescued about 100 Thai and foreign tourists from Koh Tao, a popular holiday island in Surat Thani, after they were stranded for half a day, local tourist official Panu Woramit said.

Nearby Koh Samui airport was operating again normally after a closure due to the bad weather, he added.

Fifty of Thailand's 76 provinces have been affected by the floods but the high waters have subsided in 19 of these, officials said. Bangkok has been on standby but has so far avoided major flooding.

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