Indonesia flood death toll exceeds 40
TANAH DATAR, Indonesia – The number of people killed by flash floods and cold lava flow from a volcano in western Indonesia over the weekend has surpassed 40, with 17 more missing, a local disaster agency official said on Monday.
Hours of heavy rain caused large volcanic rocks to roll down one of Indonesia’s most active volcanoes into two districts on Sumatra island on Saturday evening, while flooding inundated roads, homes and mosques.
The death toll “reached 41” this morning from the 37 recorded last night, Ilham Wahab, West Sumatra disaster mitigation agency official, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Rescuers were searching for 17 still missing — three in Agam district and 14 in Tanah Datar, both the worst-hit areas of the flood and home to hundreds of thousands of people, he said.
Abdul Malik, head of the search and rescue agency in West Sumatra’s provincial capital Pandang, told reporters on Sunday that the bodies retrieved included a 3-yearold and an 8-year-old.
Ilham encouraged “people to evacuate to relatives’ places, which are safer” than tent shelters in heavy rains.
“We are focused on, first, searching [for] and rescuing the victims; [and] second, protecting the evacuees [and] vulnerable people,” he said.
West Sumatra Gov. Mahyeldi Ansharullah told reporters on Monday that around 130 people had evacuated to an elementary school in Agam, while more than 2,000 people were evacuated to several places in Tanah Datar.
Roads in the districts were turned into rivers, with mosques and houses damaged.
Heavy rains inundated neighborhoods with muddy floodwaters and swept vehicles into a nearby river, while volcanic ash and large rocks rumbled down Mount Marapi.
Cold lava, also known as lahar, is volcanic material such as ash, sand and pebbles carried down a volcano’s slopes by rain.
Authorities sent a team of rescuers and rubber boats to look for the missing victims and to transport people to shelters.
The local government set up evacuation centers and emergency posts in several areas of Agam and Tanah Datar.
Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency, or BNPB, said 84 homes, 16 bridges and two mosques were damaged in Tanah Datar, as were 20 hectares (50 acres) of rice fields.
Survivors recounted their horror when the flooding and rockfall began.
“I heard the thunder and the sound similar to boiling water. It was the sound of big rocks falling,” housewife Rina Devina told AFP, adding that three of her neighbors were killed.
“It was pitch black, so I used my cellphone as a flashlight. The road was muddy, so I chanted ‘God, have mercy!’ over and over again,” she said of her evacuation to a local official’s office.
Dwikorita Karnawati, head of Indonesia’s meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency, or BMKG, told reporters on Monday that West Sumatra was a “unique location” because in parts of the province, rain could fall almost all year round.
“So the potential for flood and landslide are always present,” she said.
Indonesia is prone to landslides and floods during the rainy season.
In 2022, about 24,000 people were evacuated and two children were killed in floods on Sumatra island, with environmental campaigners blaming deforestation caused by logging for worsening the disaster.
Trees act as natural defenses against floods, slowing the rate at which water runs down hills and into rivers.
Marapi’s last major eruption took place in December and spewed an ash tower about 3,000 meters (9,800 feet) into the sky, taller than the volcano itself.
At least 24 climbers, most of them university students, died in the eruption.