The confirmed death toll from flash floods and massive landslides on Indonesia’s Sumatra island climbed to 164 on Friday, with 79 individuals still listed as missing, as rescue operations entered their fifth day amid deteriorating conditions across North Sumatra, Aceh, and West Sumatra provinces.

Triggered by prolonged heavy monsoon rains intensified by tropical cyclone Senyar in the Strait of Malacca, rivers burst their banks on Tuesday, unleashing walls of water and mud that obliterated entire mountainside villages. More than 3,200 homes and buildings were completely submerged or swept away, while thousands of hectares of rice fields and livestock were destroyed, pushing over 3,000 families into makeshift government shelters.

North Sumatra bore the heaviest brunt with 116 fatalities, followed by 25 deaths in Aceh province and 23 in West Sumatra. In some areas, floodwaters reached rooftop levels, leaving residents stranded for days. The National Disaster Mitigation Agency reported that more than 17,000 houses in West Sumatra alone remain inundated, with entire communities cut off by collapsed bridges and roads buried under metres of debris.

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Rescue teams face severe logistical obstacles, including impassable routes and an acute shortage of excavators and heavy equipment required to clear tonnes of mud and fallen rocks. Authorities in Aceh have been forced to airlift limited machinery, while ground access to the worst-hit highland hamlets remains blocked, significantly delaying search operations for survivors and recovery of bodies.

Meteorologists have extended extreme weather warnings, cautioning that unstable atmospheric conditions and continuous moisture supply from the dissipating cyclone could trigger additional landslides on already saturated slopes. Indonesia, an archipelago nation where millions reside in vulnerable mountainous terrain and fertile flood plains, continues to grapple with the deadly consequences of seasonal rains that regularly escalate into national disasters of this magnitude.

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