A dam on the outskirts of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, burst early today, killing 52 people and flooding hundreds of houses nearby.
"Hundreds of houses are flooded, tens of houses damaged, it was like a small tsunami," a health ministry official said.
Police said they were still searching the area for more casualties. Metro TV showed rescuers wading up to their chests in floodwater as they put the injured on stretchers.
The dam, which was used to retain water in Lake Situ Gintung in Tangerang District, 20km southwest of central Jakarta, broke early this morning following torrential rain.
One resident told Reuters the water rushed past his house around dawn. "I was in front of my door and I saw my neighbour tried to drive his car. But the water was turbulent, fast, and in seconds it was already high. The water was about 2.5 metres at the time."
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono cut short a trip to Bandung, West Java, where he was campaigning ahead of April 9th parliamentary elections, to visit the disaster scene.
Vice President Jusuf Kalla went to the area earlier today and promised the government would repair the dam immediately and provide help with rebuilding homes.
While landslides and floods are common during the rainy season in Indonesia, the latest disaster was probably caused by torrential rain and poor maintenance, some officials said, reflecting years of under-investment in much of the country's infrastructure.
Reuters