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Tragedy Strikes Sumatra: Flood and Landslide Death Toll Rises to 164, Rescue Efforts Hampered
PADANG, Indonesia – The devastating flash floods and landslides that have ravaged Indonesia’s Sumatra island have now claimed the lives of 164 people, with an additional 79 individuals still reported missing. Authorities confirmed the grim figures on Friday as rescue operations continue to face significant challenges due to widespread damage to infrastructure and a critical shortage of heavy equipment.
The catastrophe began on Tuesday when relentless monsoon rains caused rivers in North Sumatra province to overflow their banks. The ensuing deluge tore through mountainside villages, sweeping away residents and submerging over 3,200 homes and buildings, according to the National Disaster Management Agency. Approximately 3,000 displaced families have sought refuge in government shelters.
The death toll in North Sumatra province has climbed to 116, while 25 fatalities have been recorded in Aceh. Rescue teams have also recovered 23 bodies in West Sumatra, as reported by National Disaster Mitigation Agency Chief Suharyanto.
“Mudslides covering vast areas, power outages, and a lack of telecommunications are severely impeding search efforts,” stated Suharyanto, who, like many Indonesians, uses a single name. He delivered his remarks during a virtual news conference from an airport in North Tapanuli district, shortly after conducting an aerial inspection to assess the full scale of the disaster.
During a National Teachers’ Day commemoration speech, President Prabowo Subianto announced that three aircraft – including a Hercules C-130 and a newly deployed Airbus A-400 – were dispatched Friday morning. These aircraft are transporting essential rescue personnel, food, medicines, blankets, field tents, and generators as part of ongoing relief operations.
“We continue to send aid and support the needs of those affected,” President Prabowo affirmed. “Many roads are cut off, and the weather remains unfavorable. Even our helicopters and planes sometimes struggle to land.”
Prabowo emphasized that this disaster underscores growing global challenges such as climate change, global warming, and environmental degradation. He proposed strengthening environmental awareness within school curricula.
“We must teach the importance of protecting our environment and our forests, and seriously prevent illegal logging and destruction,” he urged.
Aerial footage of the devastated areas across the three provinces reveals a harrowing scene: once-verdant forests and terraced hillsides have been ripped open, their scars bleeding torrents of mud into the valleys below. In North Sumatra, entire neighborhoods in the provincial capital of Medan and Deli Serdang regency lie submerged under a vast sheet of brown water, with only rooftops barely visible as rivers burst their banks. Roads that were once bustling with traffic now resemble canals, littered with stranded vehicles and uprooted trees.
Rescue workers on Friday were striving to reach numerous individuals in isolated villages, as floods and landslides have rendered roads and bridges impassable, Suharyanto explained. In some locations, aid and other logistical supplies can only be distributed on foot due to the severe terrain.
Rescue teams are struggling to access affected areas in 12 cities and districts of North Sumatra province. Meanwhile, the flooding in West Sumatra has also destroyed rice fields, livestock, and public facilities.
In Aceh province, authorities are facing immense difficulties in transporting excavators and other heavy equipment over washed-out roads after torrential rains sent mud and rocks crashing onto hilly hamlets.
The extreme weather conditions have been attributed to tropical cyclone Senyar, which formed in the Strait of Malacca, according to Achadi Subarkah Raharjo of Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysical Agency.
Raharjo cautioned that unstable atmospheric conditions indicate that extreme weather could persist as long as the cyclone system remains active.
“We have extended its extreme weather warning due to strong water vapor supply and shifting atmospheric dynamics,” Raharjo stated.
Senyar intensified rainfall, strong winds, and high waves in Aceh, North Sumatra, West Sumatra, Riau, and surrounding areas before dissipating. Its prolonged downpours left steep, saturated terrain highly vulnerable to such disasters, he added.
Seasonal rains frequently trigger flooding and landslides across Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,000 islands where millions of people reside in mountainous regions or near fertile floodplains.