Flash flooding in Sumatra kills 69 as rescue crews search rivers for survivors | Indonesia
Flash floods and landslides on the Indonesian island of Sumatra killed 69 people; 59 people remain missing as emergency workers search rivers and the ruins of villages for bodies and survivors.
Last week’s monsoon rains caused rivers to overflow in North Sumatra province on Tuesday. The deluge destroyed mountainous villages, swept away people and submerged more than 2,000 homes and buildings, the National Disaster Management Agency said. Approximately 5,000 residents fled to government shelters.
Television reports showed rescue personnel using drills, circular saws, agricultural tools and sometimes bare hands to dig through areas marked by thick mud, rocks and uprooted trees. Rescue teams searched the river with rubber boats and helped children and elderly people who had to climb onto the roofs of flooded houses and buildings.
The death toll in North Sumatra province rose to 37 as rescue personnel recovered more bodies on Thursday, provincial police spokesman Ferry Walintukan said in a statement. He said rescuers were searching for 52 residents reported missing, but landslides, power outages and lack of telecommunications were hampering the search.
“The death toll is likely to rise as many are missing and some remote areas are still unreachable,” Walintukan said.
Walintukan said 17 bodies were found in the South Tapanuli district and 8 in Sibolga city on Thursday. In the neighboring district of Central Tapanuli, landslides hit several homes, killing at least a family of four, and one person was also found dead in floods in the town of Padang Sidempuan.
Walintukan said rescue workers also found two bodies in Pakpak Bharat district and were searching for five people reported missing in Humbang Hasundutan, where four villagers died in a landslide. He added that at least one resident died on the small island of Nias after mud and debris hit a main road.
Flooding also occurred elsewhere in the vast archipelago, including Aceh and West Sumatra, where thousands of homes were inundated, many up to the roofs, the disaster agency said.
Rescue teams recovered at least nine bodies after landslides triggered by torrential rains hit three villages in Central Aceh on Wednesday, said district chief Halili Yoga, who called on the local disaster agency to deploy excavators to dig out at least two people buried under mud.
The Aceh Disaster Mitigation Agency said about 47,000 people were displaced by flooding in the province and about 1,500 people were forced to flee to temporary shelters.
Flooding in West Sumatra province inundated thousands of homes, including more than 3,300 in the Padang Pariaman district, and about 12,000 residents were forced to flee to temporary shelters, the local disaster mitigation agency said.
The agency reported at least 23 people dead and five missing in West Sumatra province; rescuers found more bodies on Thursday; these included the bodies of six people who drowned in floods in Lumin Park, a residential area in the provincial capital of Padang.
Multiple rescue personnel searching a river around the Anai Valley Waterfall area in Tanah Datar district, where tons of mud, rocks and trees were left behind by flash floods, found seven bodies, including a child, on Thursday, the Padang Search and Rescue Office reported.
Aid coordinator Hendri, who goes by one name, said rescue teams and volunteers in the worst-hit Agam district recovered the bodies of 10 people swept away by floods in Malalak village on Thursday. He said rescuers were still searching for five villagers reported missing.
‘Suddenly I heard a rumbling sound’
Malalak resident Lingga Sari recalled the moment the flash flood occurred while she was trying to put her restless child to sleep.
“All of a sudden I heard a rumbling sound that was getting louder and louder,” said the mother of the one-year-old boy. When she went out with her child in her arms, she saw her neighbors gathered in panic and warned of a flash flood. He and others ran toward a small house of worship at a nearby intersection, but floodwaters quickly swept in.
“We had to run again, running through the rising water towards the rice field,” Lingga said.
Agam district chief Benny Warlis told The Associated Press that about 200 residents remain in isolation in the hillside landslide-hit Jorong Taboh village, following recent landslides. Authorities have not yet confirmed the number of people left homeless, dead or missing due to the destruction, as all roads leading to the area have been cut off.
“We are having difficulty verifying data on victims and missing people as access to the village, located on a steep hill, is completely blocked,” Warlis said.
In Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile flood plains, heavy seasonal rains that last from about October to March frequently cause floods and landslides.
