Indonesia death toll rises above 250 after catastrophic flooding in Sumatra

Rescue teams in Indonesia are waging an unrelenting battle against time and terrain as they struggle to reach victims in regions swallowed by cyclone-driven torrents, with the death toll climbing to over 250 — with officials warning the true scale may be even worse, the Al Jazeera reported.

Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) reported on Saturday that more than 100 people remain missing, while over 500 have been injured, after a week of catastrophic floods and landslides ravaged parts of Sumatra. West Sumatra’s Agam district alone saw rescuers recover multiple bodies, pushing the provincial toll far beyond earlier estimates.

“The death toll is believed to be increasing, since many bodies are still missing and many areas remain unreachable,” said BNPB head Suharyanto, as rescue operations continued through treacherous mud, debris, and broken infrastructure.

Late Friday, West Sumatra officials revised their figures sharply upward — 61 dead and 90 missing — while the scale of displacement has been staggering: more than 75,000 people uprooted, and over 106,000 affected across the province.

The devastation extends far beyond West Sumatra.

• North Sumatra has confirmed 116 deaths.

• Aceh province has reported at least 35 casualties.

Across borders, the rare tropical storm that formed in the Malacca Strait has brought misery to the wider region. Days of unceasing rain have killed around 400 people in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand combined. Thailand alone has recorded 145 deaths across eight southern provinces and millions affected by widespread flooding. Malaysia has reported two fatalities.

Although the rains finally eased on Friday, Indonesia remains on edge. In North Sumatra, swollen rivers burst their banks, hurling torrents of water through mountainside villages, sweeping away homes, livestock, and residents. Entire communities have been left without communication, cut off by landslides, broken bridges, and impassable roads.

Relief efforts are being stymied by washed-out infrastructure and the lack of heavy machinery, forcing rescuers to rely on makeshift methods to reach stranded families. Relief aircraft continue to ferry food, water, and essential supplies into the hardest-hit regions, including Central Tapanuli, where many villages remain isolated.

As rescuers dig through mud and debris and the missing continue to outnumber the found, Indonesia now faces not just a natural disaster, but a humanitarian crisis stretching across its most vulnerable communities.