JAKARTA (Reuters) – Heavy rains in Indonesia’s North Maluku have caused flash floods that hit a major nickel industry area in the province’s Weda Bay, a search and rescue official said on Wednesday.
Heavy rains have occurred in the area since Tuesday and flooding started from Wednesday morning, said Ichsan M. Noor, a spokesperson with the local search and rescue agency.
“Based on latest report, there is still floodwater but the level has been receding,” he said, adding there was no immediate report of casualties.
The Indonesia Weda Bay Industrial Park (IWIP) is one of the country’s largest nickel processing hubs, with investor that include China’s Tsingshan Holding Group and France Eramet .
Indonesia has the world’s largest nickel reserves and is seeking to extract more value from the metal to attract major downstream investment, including in manufacturing of electric vehicle batteries.
Footage broadcast by local news MetroTV of the area showed fast-flowing muddy water moving an excavator and a few cars.
IWIP did not immediately respond to a Reuters e-mail seeking comment on the flood’s impact on its operations.
A source at Weda Bay, who declined to be identified because they were not authorised to speak to media, said operations at the park were back to normal.
(Reporting by Ananda Teresia, Fransiska Nangoy; Editing by Martin Petty)
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