Officials say some previously unaccounted individuals were found dead, raising toll from 58 reported earlier
\nTANAH DATAR
\nThe death toll from weekend flash floods and mud slides in Indonesia\u2019s West Sumatra province rose to 62 on Wednesday, authorities said, while rescuers were searching areas near rivers for 25 people who are still missing.
\nOfficials said some of those earlier unaccounted for were found dead during the day, which lifted the toll from 58 reported in the morning.
\nA video shared by the national disaster management agency BNPB showed logs, rocks and mud strewn over roads, collapsed bridges and houses in Tanah Datar, one of the three districts in West Sumatra hit by the floods.
\nThe disaster struck the area on Saturday evening when heavy rains unleashed flash floods, landslides, and cold lava flow\u2013a mud-like mixture of volcanic ash, rock debris and water.
\nThe cold lava flow, came from Mount Marapi, one of Sumatra\u2019s most active volcanoes. Its eruption in December killed more than 20 people and more eruptions have followed since.
\nBNPB will continue to search for the missing people and clean the main roads, its head Suharyanto said in a statement on Wednesday. Sisters Fitrawanis, 64, and Nurbaiti, 66, watched in tears the ruins of their brother\u2019s house in Tanah Datar. They said the brother, Rusdi, 60, was still missing after water swept him away when he tried to save his mother-in-law.
\n\u201cI hope that his body can be found quickly, either alive or dead,\u201d Fitrawanis told Reuters. She said both in-laws and Rusdi\u2019s wife have been found dead.
\nAt least 249 houses, 225 hectares (556 acres) of land, including rice fields, 19 bridges and most of the main roads were damaged in three districts and one town.
\nIndonesia\u2019s meteorology agency BMKG said it planned to try to mitigate heavy rainfall expected for the next week in West Sumatra by \u201ccloud seeding\u201d to prevent rains in the worst affected areas.
\nWidely used in Indonesia, cloud seeding involves shooting salt flares into clouds to trigger rainfall in dry areas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Officials say some previously unaccounted individuals were found dead, raising toll from 58 reported earlier TANAH DATAR The death toll from weekend flash floods and mud slides in Indonesia\u2019s West Sumatra province rose to 62 on Wednesday, authorities said, while rescuers were searching areas near rivers for 25 people who are still missing. Officials said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":407257,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-407242","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n