Rescuers in Sumatra are racing to find survivors after floods and landslides killed at least 10 people.

Torrential monsoon rains have set off destructive floods and landslides across Indonesia’s Sumatra island, killing at least 10 people and leaving dozens of others missing, according to local authorities.

Days of relentless rainfall since Monday forced rivers in North Sumatra province to overflow, sending mud, rocks and uprooted trees crashing through villages in six regencies.

The National Police said on Wednesday that rescue teams were struggling to reach isolated communities as damaged roads, unstable slopes and persistent downpours continue to slow operations.

Authorities said five bodies and three injured survivors were recovered in the coastal city of Sibolga, the area hit hardest by the flooding.

Search teams are looking for four missing residents as damage assessments continue. In neighbouring Central Tapanuli, landslides crushed several homes, killing at least four members of one family, while severe flooding submerged nearly 2,000 houses and public buildings.

Further south, floods and falling trees killed one resident in South Tapanuli and injured another.

A bridge in Mandailing Natal district was destroyed, cutting off access for nearby communities, while 470 homes were inundated.

On Nias island, rescuers reported that mud and debris blocked the main road linking several villages.

Rescue efforts hampered

Videos posted online show water coursing over rooftops as families scramble to higher ground.

In some neighbourhoods, flash floods surged so quickly that streets turned into violent currents carrying tree trunks, household items and rubble.

Sibolga police chief Eddy Inganta said emergency shelters have opened across the city, and authorities are urging residents living near unstable slopes to leave immediately. Six landslides have already flattened 17 houses and a cafe.

“Bad weather and mudslides hampered the rescue operation,” Inganta said, warning that continued rainfall could trigger further slope failures.

The disaster struck on the same day Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency ended a 10-day search in two districts of Central Java, where earlier storms killed 38 people.

More than 1,000 responders were deployed to locate those buried under deep mud, but officials said unstable ground and worsening weather made further operations too dangerous. Thirteen people remain missing in Cilacap and Banjarnegara.

Heavy seasonal rain between October and March frequently triggers floods and landslides across Indonesia, where millions live along fertile floodplains or on steep, landslide-prone hillsides.