Heavy monsoon rains have pummelled Indonesia’s Sumatra island over the past week, causing widespread flooding and landslides, and leaving at least 72 dead with hundreds more missing.
Villagers and residential areas were swept away or buried by mudslides, affecting more than 2,000 homes in North Sumatra, according to Indonesia’s Disaster Management Agency.
Some 5,000 people across the province had taken refuge in government shelters, the agency added.
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On Friday, the agency confirmed 57 deaths in North Sumatra. Six people were also found dead in neighbouring Aceh province, where 11 remained missing, while West Sumatra reported nine fatalities.
In the city of Medan, the provincial capital of North Sumatra, floodwaters began to rise in the early hours of Thursday morning, bringing the city to a standstill and destroying homes and businesses.
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Standing outside the remains of his home in Medan’s Helvetia district, 18-year-old student Ferdika told This Week in Asia that his family was woken around 4am (5am Hong Kong time) on Thursday as water surged into their bedrooms.