An exceptionally rare tropical storm, named Cyclone Senyar, caused catastrophic landslides and flooding in Indonesia, with homes swept away and thousands of buildings submerged.
“The current was very fast, in a matter of seconds it reached the streets, entered the houses,” a resident in Indonesia’s Aceh Province, Arini Amalia, told the BBC.
She and her grandmother raced to a relative’s house on higher terrain. On returning the following day to retrieve some belongings, she said the flood had completely swallowed the house: “It’s already sunk.”
After waters rapidly rose in West Sumatra and submerged his home, Meri Osman said he was “swept away by the current” and clung onto a clothesline until he was rescued.
“During the flood, everything was gone,” a resident of Bireuen in Sumatra’s Aceh province told news agency Reuters. “I wanted to save my clothes, but my house came down.”
The bad weather has hampered rescue operations, and while tens of thousands of people have been evacuated, hundreds are still stranded, the Indonesian disaster agency said.
In Tapanuli, the worst-affected area, residents have reportedly ransacked shops in search of food.
Pressure is mounting on Jakarta to declare a national disaster in Sumatra to enable a faster and more co-ordinated response.
