JAKARTA – The death toll from flash flooding and landslides on the Indonesian island of Sumatra has risen to 21, an official said on March 10, with six people still missing.

Torrential rain on March 7 triggered the disaster in Pesisir Selatan regency in the West Sumatra province, with more than 75,000 people forced to evacuate.

“As at Sunday, 21 people were found dead and six people remained missing,” West Sumatra disaster mitigation agency official Fajar Sukma told AFP by phone on March 10.

A village located on a hillside in the Sutera sub-district was struck hard, with around 200 families in the area left isolated after a landslide followed by flash flooding, the official said.

A local official earlier put the death toll at 18, with five missing.

Rescuers were searching for the missing on March 10 as the authorities focused their operation on three areas affected by the disasters, said local search and rescue official Abdul Malik.

“Today’s search involves around 150 people from disaster organisations in West Sumatra,” he added in a statement.

A senior official from the Pesisir Selatan disaster mitigation agency said water had started to recede after the flooding, but added that access to areas affected by the landslide remained difficult because of hilly terrain.

In the Padang Pariaman regency, also in West Sumatra, heavy downpours earlier this week caused rivers to overflow and triggered floods and a landslide, killing at least three people, according to a statement from the local disaster agency.

Indonesia is prone to landslides during the rainy season and the problem has been aggravated in some places by deforestation, with prolonged torrential rain causing flooding in some areas of the archipelago nation.

A landslide and floods swept away dozens of houses and destroyed a hotel near Lake Toba on Sumatra in December, killing at least two people. AFP