Indonesia: Flash floods and landslides in Sumatra kill 69, dozens still missing

Flash floods and landslides on Indonesia’s Sumatra island have killed 69 people, while 59 others remain missing as emergency teams search rivers and destroyed villages for bodies and possible survivors.

A week of monsoon rains caused rivers to overflow in North Sumatra province on Tuesday. The surging waters swept through mountainside villages, carried people away, and submerged more than 2,000 homes and buildings, according to the National Disaster Management Agency. Nearly 5,000 residents were forced to take shelter in government camps.

Television footage showed rescue teams using jackhammers, circular saws, farm tools and even their bare hands to dig through thick mud, rocks and uprooted trees. Rubber-boat teams searched rivers and helped evacuate children and elderly residents stranded on rooftops.

In North Sumatra, the death toll rose to 37 on Thursday after more bodies were recovered, provincial police spokesperson Ferry Walintukan said. Rescuers were still looking for 52 missing residents, but mudslides, power outages and a lack of telecommunications were slowing the operation.

“With many missing and some remote areas still unreachable, the death toll was likely to rise,” Walintukan said.

Seventeen bodies were recovered in South Tapanuli district and eight in Sibolga city. In Central Tapanuli district, landslides struck several homes, killing at least a family of four, and another person died in floods in Padang Sidempuan city.

Rescuers also found two bodies in Pakpak Bharat district and were searching for five people missing in Humbang Hasundutan, where four villagers were killed in landslides, Walintukan said. One resident died when mud and debris hit a main road on the small Nias island, he added.

Flooding was also reported across other parts of the archipelago, including Aceh and West Sumatra, where thousands of houses were inundated—many up to their roofs—according to the national disaster agency.

By Thursday, at least nine bodies had been recovered after torrential rains triggered landslides in three villages in Central Aceh on Wednesday, district chief Halili Yoga said, urging local authorities to deploy an excavator to retrieve at least two people buried under mud.

Aceh’s Disaster Mitigation Agency said nearly 47,000 people had been displaced by the floods, with around 1,500 taking shelter in temporary camps.

In West Sumatra, thousands of homes were submerged, including more than 3,300 in Padang Pariaman district, forcing roughly 12,000 residents into temporary shelters, the local disaster mitigation agency reported.