‘I decided I’d die’: Indonesia’s flood victims recount stories of survival

At least 631 people have died in floods in the Southeast Asian country, with the death toll expected to rise.People walk along a road in a village affected by a flash flood in Batang Toru, North Sumatra, Indonesia, on December 1, 2025 [Binsar Bakkara/AP]Published On 2 Dec 2025Medan, Indonesia – As floodwaters burst into Nurdin and his wife’s home in Indonesia’s Aceh Province last week, the elderly couple crawled onto their bed.Nurdin, who uses a wheelchair following a stroke, resigned himself to his fate.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Zelenskyy says territorial concessions remain Ukraine’s ‘biggest challenge’list 2 of 4Int’l Criminal Court says Libyan war crimes suspect now in custodylist 3 of 4Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,377list 4 of 4Luigi Mangione appears in court as lawyers seek to bar evidence at trialend of list“I was just waiting to die. I didn’t want to leave my home,” Nurdin, who lives in the city of Langsa, told Al Jazeera.“I decided I would just die there, but my wife insisted we leave.”As the water continued to rise, Nurdin’s younger brother called on the couple’s neighbours for help.By the time Nurdin’s neighbours arrived at about 4am on Wednesday to carry the pair to safety, the water was chest-deep.“As I was being carried, we got hit by a strong water current, which knocked my neighbour off his feet, and we both plunged into the flood,” said Nurdin, 71, who, like many Indonesians, uses a single name.“I started to drown as I couldn’t stand up, and I thought ‘This is it’.”Nurdin and his wife reached their neighbours’ home unhurt, but torrential rains soon made the building uninhabitable, forcing them to seek the assistance of the army, which evacuated the pair to a local mosque using a table as a makeshift stretcher.“There were no clothes there, so I just had to wear a sarung,” Nurdin said. “I was there for four days.”Wreckages of vehicles litter a village affected by a flash flood in Agam, West Sumatra, Indonesia, on December 1, 2025 [Ade Yuandha/AP]At the mosque, Nurdin said that another Langsa resident told him that he lived next to a cemetery and had seen bodies rising out of the ground and floating away in the deluge.Nurdin, who has been staying at his brother’s house since the floodwaters receded, has yet to return to his home, but his sibling told him that almost everything was gone when he visited the scene.“Maybe about 1 percent of my belongings can be saved. Everything in the kitchen is gone, and my fridge was destroyed,” Nurdin said.“My wardrobes had the doors ripped off them, and all the clothes were covered in water and mud. The mud in front of my home is still about half a metre high.”Floods in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Malaysia have killed more than 1,140 people over the past week, following extreme weather brought on by three tropical cyclones.At least 631 people have been killed in Indonesia alone.With many areas across the island of Sumatra still inaccessible, the death toll is expected to rise.Many parts of the island have been buried in landslides, following flash floods which have made roads impassable and impeded search and rescue efforts.Nurkasyah sits with other displaced residents at a community centre in Kuta Makmur, North Aceh Regency, Aceh Province, Indonesia, on November 26, 2025 [Courtesy of Nasir]Nurkasyah, a 70-year-old resident of Kuta Makmur, northern Aceh Province, is among the many who have lost almost all their possessions.“My washing machine, my fridge, rice cooker, and all my rice was destroyed,” Nurkasyah told Al Jazeera.“Everything is still in my house; it didn’t float away, but it was submerged in water, so I can’t use it any more. I might be able to save my bed if I put it outside and let it dry in the sun for a few days.”Nurkasyah said that the waters started to rise on Tuesday but subsided slightly before rising again on Wednesday following torrential rain overnight, until water was “coming in through the windows”.Along with 300 others, Nurkasyah took shelter in a local community centre for the next five days, eating only the few basic necessities that panicked residents had been able to grab as they raced to escape the rising waters.“We just ate rice, instant noodles and some eggs. There wasn’t enough food to go around,” she said. “I have been to see my home, but it is full of mud now, so I can’t live there.”At the same time as Nurkasyah was watching the floodwaters rise around her home, her son, Nasir, was taking a bus from Banda Aceh, the provincial capital of Aceh, to Medan, the provincial capital of neighbouring North Sumatra.The journey by road usually takes about 12 hours, but Nasir found himself marooned on the bus for the next five days.“After we left on Tuesday, the floodwaters were starting to rise, but we could still get through,” he told Al Jazeera.“Unfortunately, when we got to Kuala Simpang on Wednesday afternoon, the driver said he couldn’t go any further or go back,” he said, referring to a town on the border of Aceh and North Sumatra provinces.As the town began to be submerged in the rising floodwaters, Nasir and the other passengers climbed onto the roof of the bus to keep safe and survey the scene.“On Sunday morning, a group of us decided to take the initiative and try to find an alternative route out of there,” Nasir said.“We agreed among ourselves that there was no way we could go back to Aceh, and we would have to press on to Medan. We managed to find a boat owned by a fisherman, who took us part of the way, and then a pick-up truck took us the rest of the way.”With many roads unpassable due to mud, fallen trees and other debris, Nasi now faces the prospect of an arduous trek home.“Now, I am going to try and fly back to Aceh by plane, rather than attempt the journey by road again,” he said.