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

The death toll from devastating flash floods and landslides on Indonesia’s Sumatra island has climbed to 164, with 79 people still missing, as rescue operations face significant challenges in the affected regions.

Monsoon rains triggered rivers to overflow in North Sumatra province on Tuesday, unleashing a torrent of destruction that tore through mountainside villages. The deluge swept away residents and submerged more than 3,200 houses and buildings, according to the National Disaster Management Agency. Approximately 3,000 displaced families have sought refuge in government shelters.

The disaster has struck across multiple provinces, with North Sumatra reporting 116 fatalities, Aceh province confirming 25 deaths, and West Sumatra documenting 23 casualties, according to National Disaster Mitigation Agency Chief Suharyanto.

“Mudslides that covered much of the area, power blackouts and lack of telecommunications were hampering the search efforts,” said Suharyanto during a virtual news conference from North Tapanuli district, where he had conducted an aerial inspection of the devastation.

President Prabowo Subianto addressed the crisis during a National Teachers’ Day commemoration speech, detailing the deployment of three aircraft—including a Hercules C-130 and a new Airbus A-400—carrying rescue personnel and emergency supplies. The relief operation includes food, medicines, blankets, field tents, and generators to support affected communities.

“We continue to send aid and support the needs of those affected,” Prabowo stated. “Many roads are cut off and the weather remains unfavorable. Even our helicopters and planes sometimes struggle to land,” he added, highlighting the logistical complications facing rescue teams.

The President linked the disaster to larger environmental concerns, emphasizing the growing global challenges of climate change, global warming, and environmental degradation. He advocated for strengthening environmental awareness in school curricula to address these issues long-term.

“We must teach the importance of protecting our environment and our forests, and seriously prevent illegal logging and destruction,” Prabowo said, pointing to underlying factors that may exacerbate such natural disasters.

Aerial footage of the affected areas reveals the scale of destruction: emerald forests and terraced hillsides have been violently transformed by mudslides, while in North Sumatra’s provincial capital of Medan and Deli Serdang regency, entire neighborhoods lie submerged under brown floodwaters with only rooftops visible. Once-busy roads now resemble canals, filled with stranded vehicles and uprooted trees.

Rescue workers face the daunting task of reaching isolated villages where infrastructure has been severely compromised. Damaged roads and bridges have cut off many communities, forcing aid distribution by foot across challenging terrain in some locations. The flooding in West Sumatra has also destroyed critical resources including rice fields, livestock, and public facilities.

In Aceh province, authorities struggle to bring heavy equipment like excavators over washed-out roads to assist in recovery efforts after torrential rains triggered mudslides and rockfalls in hilly settlements.

The extreme weather has been attributed to tropical cyclone Senyar, which formed in the Strait of Malacca, according to Achadi Subarkah Raharjo from Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysical Agency. The cyclone intensified rainfall, strong winds, and high waves across Aceh, North Sumatra, West Sumatra, Riau, and neighboring regions before dissipating.

“We have extended its extreme weather warning due to strong water vapor supply and shifting atmospheric dynamics,” Raharjo explained. The prolonged downpours have left steep, saturated terrain highly vulnerable to further disasters.

Indonesia, an archipelago comprising 17,000 islands, regularly experiences seasonal rains that cause flooding and landslides. The nation’s geography, with millions living in mountainous areas or near flood plains, creates inherent vulnerability to such natural disasters.

The Indonesian disaster agency revised the death toll to 164 after initially reporting 174 deaths, attributing the discrepancy to a calculation error in Aceh province’s casualty figures.