Deadly Floods and Landslides Kill 17 on Indonesia’s Sumatra Island, Thousands Displaced
Jakarta: Torrential monsoon rains have unleashed devastating floods and landslides across Indonesia’s Sumatra Island, killing 17 people and leaving six others missing, officials confirmed on Wednesday. Rescue efforts remain severely hampered as downpours continue to batter the region, displacing thousands and cutting off access to remote communities.
Rescuers are racing to locate victims buried under mudslides or swept away by surging floodwaters across six regencies in North Sumatra province. Weeks of heavy rainfall caused rivers to overflow, sending torrents of mud, rocks and uprooted trees crashing through hillside settlements, according to the National Police.
In the coastal city of Sibolga, one of the hardest-hit areas, teams recovered five bodies and rescued three injured people as they continued searching for four villagers still missing. Landslides in the neighbouring Central Tapanuli district destroyed several homes, killing a family of four, while nearly 2,000 houses and buildings were submerged by floods.
Further south in South Tapanuli, rescuers retrieved seven more bodies, bringing the district’s death toll to eight. Floods and landslides in the area also uprooted trees, forced more than 2,800 residents into temporary shelters, and left 58 people injured, said National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari.
The destruction has compounded across the province:
- Landslides hit 50 houses in North Tapanuli
- Two major bridges were destroyed
- A bridge in Mandailing Natal was washed away
- Hundreds of homes were flooded in Mandailing Natal and Padang Sidempuan
- A main road on Nias Island was blocked by mud and debris
Videos circulating online show water cascading down rooftops and streets turning into violent torrents, carrying tree trunks and wreckage as residents fled for safety.
Sibolga Police Chief Eddy Inganta said emergency shelters have been set up, urging residents in high-risk zones to evacuate immediately. “Bad weather and mudslides have severely hampered the rescue operation,” he noted, adding that access to some areas remains extremely limited.
The latest disaster struck the same day the National Disaster Mitigation Agency ended relief operations in two areas of Central Java, where 38 people were killed in landslides following days of torrential rain. Despite the deployment of over 1,000 rescuers, unstable terrain and persistent bad weather halted further recovery efforts, with 13 people still missing.
Seasonal rains from October to March frequently trigger severe flooding and landslides across Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,000 islands where millions live in mountainous regions or fertile but flood-prone plains. Authorities warn that continued rainfall could cause further landslides in already saturated areas.
