JAKARTA — The death toll from catastrophic flooding in Indonesia has climbed past 900, with hundreds still missing, as rescue teams struggle to reach isolated communities devastated by torrential rain, landslides and a rare cyclone that formed over the Malaca Strait last week.
More than 100,000 homes were destroyed when the powerful weather system swept across parts of the country, triggering fast-moving floods that obliterated entire villages.
Aid delivery remains extremely difficult, with some areas accessible only by airdrops.
The disaster is one of several severe weather events across Asia in recent weeks, with cumulative deaths in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam approaching 2,000.
In Aceh Tamiang, among the hardest-hit regions, survivors described whole communities being wiped out.
Fitriana, a resident of Lintang Bawah Village, told BBC Indonesian that families survived by sitting on rooftops for days without food or water.
“There were also those who survived on the roofs of their houses with their four-year-old children, for three days without eating or drinking,” she said. About 90% of homes in her village were destroyed, leaving 300 families displaced.
Another survivor recounted being evacuated by boat after floodwaters rose to the second floor of his home, only to flee again after relocating to a nearby village.
“Water suddenly soaked the mattresses we were sleeping on… there was no higher ground,” he said, adding that the family survived by climbing to the upper floor of a relative’s house.
Aid workers are navigating mud-choked, destroyed roads as search teams continue to recover bodies buried in “waist-deep” mud, the regional governor said.
“Many areas remain untouched in the remote areas of Aceh. People are not dying from the flood, but from starvation,” he warned.
Indonesian media reported that inmates were released from a prison threatened by rising floodwaters because officials had no safe location to relocate them.
Land routes to Sibolga City and Central Tapanuli remained cut off as of Sunday, with aid reaching the areas only by air and sea. Some regions have reported supermarket looting as shortages worsen. — BBC
