PADANG: Rescuers on Indonesia’s flood- and landslide-hit Sumatra island rushed on Thursday to pull stranded residents out of fast-flowing muddy waters that smashed through homes and forced thousands of people to flee a rare tropical cyclone in the area.
The cyclone blew across the Indonesian archipelago’s western-most area, inundating the nearby Malacca Strait and causing floods and landslides that have killed at least 61 people, authorities said. They fear the toll could go up with rain continuing and 100 residents still missing.
Responders used helicopters to deliver aid and for logistics in the northern part of the island, which was the hardest hit with roads cut off and communications infrastructure destroyed by landslides, the country’s disaster mitigation agency said.