Floods in Indonesis?s Aceh and North Sumatra provinces have left at least 22 people dead and six missing, Health Ministry official Rustam Pakaya told Reuters yesterday.

Casualty counts were still coming in from Aceh and North Sumatra provinces, hardest hit by heavy rains that sent streams overflowing their banks, with the effects of the downpours made worse by deforestation.

A government official in Aceh Tamiang district had reported to the ministry 11 people were carried away by the raging waters and 17 houses were washed out.

In Aceh the floods have affected five districts, injured hundreds of people, and forced tens of thousands to flee their homes. Almost exactly two years ago, on Dec. 26, 2004, Aceh was hit by the Indian Ocean tsunami, which left some 170,000 dead or missing in the province. In Langkat, North Sumatra, 10 people had died from this month?s flooding while three are missing, Pakaya told Reuters by telephone.

In Langkat, nearly 6,000 people are in temporary residences at shelters while in Aceh the number is close to 50,000, Pakaya said. More people were leaving their homes in mountainous areas yesterday. ?They are worried that there will be landslides,? Pakaya said.

Relief aid was flowing to affected areas from various crisis centres, along with health services to prevent illnesses such as diarrhoea.

As of Saturday at least six Malaysians, all in the worst-hit state of Johor, had died in the floods, which the government described as the worst since 1969.