Floods and landslides caused by torrential rain in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province have killed at least 34 people, authorities said, with rescue efforts hampered by what an official described as a “total cutoff” of roads and communications, Al Jazeera reported.
North Sumatra regional police spokesman Ferry Walintukan told the Detik news website that, apart from the confirmed deaths, at least 52 people remained missing as of Thursday.
A rare tropical cyclone blew across Indonesia’s Sumatra island, inundating the nearby Malacca Strait and causing floods and landslides, the country’s meteorological agency said on Wednesday, as large swaths of Southeast Asia grappled with deadly flooding.
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Up to 8,000 people across North Sumatra have been evacuated, and roads remain blocked by landslide debris, with aid now being distributed via helicopters, Abdul Muhari, spokesperson for the country’s disaster mitigation agency, said on Thursday, as per Al Jazeera.
The regions of Sibolga and Central Tapanuli were among the hardest hit, Yuyun Karseno, an official at the agency’s North Sumatra division, told Al Jazeera, adding that communications and power had been cut off.
“There is no more access due to a total cutoff,” Yuyun said when asked about the rescue efforts. “Until now, we can’t communicate with folks in Sibolga and Central Tapanuli.”
Among the dead was one family in Central Tapanuli, Indonesia’s search and rescue agency said.
A video shared by radio channel Elshinta on its social media account showed a person carrying a baby in a plastic container on a roof in Central Tapanuli.
Footage and photos shared by the agency show rapid currents of water overflowing across the region, leaving buildings destroyed in their wake, with rescuers using orange rafts to visit flooded homes.
Flooding and landslides also affected the provinces of West Sumatra and Aceh, authorities said. Indonesia’s official news agency Antara reported that 10 of the 23 cities and districts in Aceh have been submerged, as per Al Jazeera.
