Death toll from floods, landslides on Indonesia’s Sumatra rises to 164

The death toll from flash floods and landslides on Indonesia's Sumatra island rose to 164 on Friday with 79 people missing, authorities said, as rescue workers found their efforts hampered by damaged bridges and roads and a lack of heavy equipment.

Monsoon rains caused rivers to burst their banks in North Sumatra province Tuesday. The deluge tore through mountainside villages, swept away people and submerged more than 3,200 houses and buildings, National Disaster Management Agency said.

About 3,000 displaced families fled to government shelters.

The death toll in North Sumatra province rose to 116, while 25 persons died in Aceh. Rescuers also retrieved 23 bodies in West Sumatra, National Disaster Mitigation Agency’s chief Suharyanto said.

Elsewhere in the island’s provinces of Aceh and West Sumatra, thousands of houses were flooded, many up to roofs, the agency said.

Rescue teams struggled to reach affected areas in 12 cities and districts of North Sumatra province, said the National Disaster Mitigation Agency’s spokesperson Abdul Muhari.

West Sumatra’s disaster mitigation agency reported the flooding submerged more than 17,000 homes, forcing about 23,000 residents to flee to temporary shelters. Rice fields, livestock and public facilities were also destroyed and bridges and roads cut off by floods and landslides isolated residents.

In Aceh province, authorities struggled to bring excavators and other heavy equipment over washed-out roads after torrential rains sent mud and rocks crashing onto hilly hamlets.

The extreme weather was driven by tropical cyclone Senyar, which formed in the Strait of Malacca, said Achadi Subarkah Raharjo at Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency.

He warned that unstable atmospheric conditions mean extreme weather could persist as long as the cyclone system remains active.

“We have extended its extreme weather warning due to strong water vapour supply and shifting atmospheric dynamics,” Raharjo said.

Senyar intensified rainfall, strong winds, and high waves in Aceh, North Sumatra, West Sumatra, Riau, and nearby areas before dissipating. Its prolonged downpours left steep, saturated terrain highly vulnerable to disasters, he said.

Seasonal rains frequently cause flooding and landslides in Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile flood plains.