Jakarta (Indonesia):The death toll from this week's flooding and landslides in central Indonesia has risen to 216, with 67 people still missing, the national disaster task force reported on Saturday.
Nearly all of those dead or missing are from the Sinjai district of Sulawesi island, where over 100 homes were destroyed or severely damaged.
While heavy rains and landslides are common in the tropical country, one Indonesian official suggested that a rapid rate of deforestation has made it easier for hillsides to saturate with rain and collapse.
"There were very heavy rains, and the forest has been depleted so the waters rose rapidly," said Bachtiar Chamsyah of Indonesia's Interior Ministry.
Monsoon rains typically peak in January, but the heavy precipitation has devastated Indonesia in recent months, killing at least 23 people in East Java in April.
It is the latest natural disaster to hit Indonesia this year, which lost 6,200 people when a massive earthquake hit central Java in May.
That same region is now threatened by Mount Merapi, an erupting volcano that has forced the evacuation of 11,000 people.
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