Drone footage show scale of devastation in North Sumatra after floods hit Indonesia

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(3 Dec 2025) RESTRICTION SUMMARY: ASSOCIATED PRESS North Sumatra, Indonesia - 2 December 2025 1. Various drone shots of Garoga village, Batang Toru sub-district, South Tapanuli ++MUTE++ 2. Pile of logs carried away by flash floods 3. Pan right of damaged houses, inundated with mud and debris 4. Motorbike buried in mud inside a house 5. Cat on a bed among scattered clothes inside a house 6. Pan right from a resident walking along a village road to area flooded with mud 7. Car crushed by a house after being swept away by the flood 8. Various of an excavator clearing debris that buried a house 9. People standing on a road cut off after its bridge was swept away 10. Various of people walking on a temporary wooden bridge built after the original bridge collapsed STORYLINE: Rescue teams raced Wednesday to reach communities isolated by last week's catastrophic floods and landslides in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand as over 800 people remained missing and economic damage became more clear. Over 1,400 were killed: at least 770 in Indonesia, 465 in Sri Lanka and 185 in Thailand, with three in Malaysia. In Indonesia, the worst-hit country, washed-out roads and collapsed bridges have left rescuers struggling to reach some of the hardest-hit areas in North Sumatra, West Sumatra and Aceh provinces, said the National Disaster Management Agency. There was concern that deforestation may have contributed to the disaster. Residents and emergency workers in Padang, the capital of West Sumatra, said large piles of neatly cut timber were found among the debris. “From their shape, it was clear these were not just trees torn out naturally by the flood, but timber that had been deliberately cut,” said a member of a clean-up crew, Neviana, who goes by a single name. Ria Wati, 38, who lives on the outskirts of Padang, agreed. “The logs carried by the floods weren't the kind you get from a flash flood,” she said, “If old trees were uprooted, you would see roots and fragile bark. But these were clean, neatly cut pieces of wood ... they looked like the result of illegal logging.” Local authorities have not confirmed the source of the timber. Environmental groups said the scale of damage suggested weakened hillsides and degraded forests played a major role. Cabinet Secretary Minister Teddy Indra Wijaya said the government was investigating alleged illegal logging operations. “Beyond extreme weather, environmental degradation has worsened the impact,” Wijaya said. =========================================================== Clients are reminded to adhere to all listed restrictions and to check the terms of their licence agreements. For further assistance, please contact the AP Archive on: Tel +44(0)2074827482 Email: [email protected]. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives ​​ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/4a52471a941e4c7a814c0f66c8875f9b