Deadly floods and landslides caused by heavy rains have killed at least twenty persons in Indonesia.
Rain started to fall on four northern Sumatra districts on Saturday and continued until Tuesday.
Heavy equipment was employed by rescuers in western Indonesia to dig out landslides and floods.
According to a statement from local agency, the bodies of five individuals reported missing in North Sumatra have been recovered from beneath a pile of mud and rubble.
Juspri Nadeak, disaster chief in hardest-hit Karo district, said the discovery of victims not yet reported missing to authorities remained a possibility.
In a village in Deli Serdang district, where four people have been found dead and two more were missing, piles of mud, logs and rocks were scattered around the village where a rescue operation was underway.
“The electricity was cut off and there were no cellphone reception, making it difficult for us rescuers to communicate, authorities stated.
The death toll climbed to 20 on Tuesday following the discovery of the five bodies in Karo district.
The rest of the victims were found in South Tapanuli, Padang Lawas and Deli Serdang districts.
Indonesia has suffered a string of recent extreme weather events, which experts say are made more likely, more severe and less predictable by climate change.
In May, at least 67 people died after a mixture of ash, sand and pebbles carried down from the eruption of Mount Marapi in West Sumatra washed into residential areas, causing flash floods.
According to a partial analysis released on Oct. 31 by the World Weather Attribution group, which is composed of dozens of international scientists who study the role of global warming in extreme weather, human-caused climate change has doubled the likelihood of drenching storms like the one that hit Indonesia this week and the one that turned streets in the eastern Spanish region of Valencia into raging rivers earlier this month.
