Landslides, flash floods on Indonesia's Sumatra island leave 17 dead, 6 missing

Rescuers recovered more bodies in the search for dozens of people buried under landslides or swept away after torrential rains unleashed flash floods and triggered landslides on Indonesia's Sumatra island. The death toll has risen to 17 and six persons are missing, officials said on Wednesday.

Rescue teams were struggling to reach affected areas in six regencies of North Sumatra province after the monsoon rains over the past week caused rivers to burst their banks, tearing through hilly villages as mud, rocks and trees tumbled down, leaving destruction in their wake, the National Police said in a statement.

Rescue workers by Wednesday had recovered at least five bodies and three injured people in the worst-hit city of Sibolga and were searching for four villagers who were reported missing, the statement said.

In the neighbouring district of Central Tapanuli, landslides hit several homes, killing at least a family of four, and floods submerged nearly 2,000 houses and buildings.

Rescuers retrieved seven more bodies in South Tapanuli district, raising the death toll to eight, after floods and landslides also uprooted trees, prompting more than 2,800 residents to flee to temporary shelters and injuring 58 others, said National Disaster Mitigation Agency's spokesperson Abdul Muhari.

He said landslides also hit 50 houses in North Tapanuli district and destroyed at least two main bridges in the region.

Floods had cut off a bridge in Mandailing Natal and submerged hundreds of houses in the hilly district and its neighbouring Padang Sidempuan city, while a main road was blocked by mud and debris on Nias island.

Videos on social media show water cascading down rooftops as panicked residents scramble for safety. In some areas, flash floods rose rapidly, transforming streets into raging torrents carrying tree trunks and debris.

Sibolga police chief Eddy Inganta said emergency shelters have been set up and authorities urged residents in high-risk zones to evacuate immediately, warning that continued rainfall could trigger more landslides after six landslides in the hilly city flattened 17 houses and a café.

“Bad weather and mudslides hampered the rescue operation,” Inganta said, adding that access remains limited as rescuers battle harsh conditions.

Tuesday's disasters occurred the same day the National Disaster Mitigation Agency declared the official end of relief efforts in two areas of Indonesia's main island of Java after 10 days of operations.

More than 1,000 rescue workers had been deployed to search for people buried under landslides triggered by torrential rains that left 38 people dead in Central Java's districts of Cilacap and Banjarnegara.

At least two people in Cilacap and 11 in Banjarnegara were still unaccounted for when the operations ended, as unstable ground, bad weather and the depth and extent of the landfill material pose a high safety risk to rescue teams and residents, the agency said.

Heavy seasonal rain from about October to March frequently causes flooding and landslides in Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile floodplains.