Sumatra Floods: Rebuilding Amid Deforestation & Skepticism

0:00Months after deadly floods hit Sumatra in November 2025, folks there are still pulling themselves from the mud. Psychone senyar dumped torrential rain, sparking floods and landslides that killed over 1,200 people and displaced hundreds of thousands across Ace and North Sumatra. What made it worse were massive logs crashing down with the water, smashing homes and bridges. Those point upstream to palm oil plantations in deforestation were forests that once soaked up rain got cleared out, letting debris rush free. Survivors like those in North Ace, Soong district lost everything overnight. Families fled to hillsides around 3am, watching 30 year homes vanish. Now they huddle intense amid wreckage, rice fields buried under mud and timber, hearts heavy with grief. The government under President Prabowo stepped up, revoking permits from over two dozen companies and promising a crackdown on illegal logging, but locals they skeptical, especially

1:01with disaster agency budgets slashed to under a third of pandemic levels, leaving them short on boats, gear and cash for repairs. Even light rain now risks more floods as rivers clog with sediment and forests thin out. These communities rebuild with scavenged wood, but the shadow of the next deluge looms large, urging real change before the cycle spins again. That's the story for today. Sydney News Today, Driven by AI, I'm Corey with the Story.