More than 104,000 people have been forced to leave their homes after severe flooding hit Bima, a low-lying city in West Nusa Tenggara province, about 500km east of Bali island.

Days of rain triggered by tropical cyclone Yvette left houses and buildings standing in water reaching as deep as 3m, cut power lines and communications, and forced offices and schools to close.

Bima's Sultan Muhammad Salahudin Airport was able to resume full- day operations only yesterday.

More than 19,000 houses, at least 60 health facilities and two bridges were damaged by the floods, Dr Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), said in a statement yesterday.

A 14-day emergency period has been declared until Jan 4.

Bima residents who returned home from shelters on Thursday after the first flood on Wednesday were forced to flee again by a second flood on Friday, according to the BNPB statement. No casualties have been reported.

"Today, some residents are visiting and checking on their damaged home... but they plan to return to shelters or relatives' houses at night," Mr Agung Pramuja, a Bima- based BNPB official, told The Sunday Times by telephone.

Hundreds of BNPB personnel, police, military troops and volunteers from non-governmental organisations have been deployed to Bima to help the flood victims, and trucks loaded with food and medicine have arrived.