Helicopters were deployed to help search for survivors among 72 people who have so far disappeared on the Nusa Tenggara islands, where the tropical cyclone Seroja has brought strong winds and heavy rains that have caused floods and landslides.
An amateur video by a local officer in the village of Tanjung Batu on Lembata Island, home to the Mount Ile Lewotolok volcano, showed trees felled and large rocks of cold lava that crushed houses after being displaced by the cyclone.
Officials said the death toll could rise as rescue workers reach more isolated areas. Images of the region on Monday showed felled trees, rough seas and storm-shattered wooden houses and debris floating in the floodwater.
At least 8,424 people have been displaced, nearly 2,000 buildings, including an impacted hospital, and more than 100 homes heavily damaged by the cyclone, which passed over the Indian Ocean on Tuesday morning, towards northern Australia.
The head of the meteorological agency, Dwikorita Karnawati, said that before rare tropical cyclones happened more frequently in Indonesia and that climate change could be to blame.
“Seroja is the first time that we have seen a tremendous impact because it has hit the land. It is not common,” she told a news conference.
In neighboring West Nusa Tenggara province, officials said on Monday that two died, while in the neighboring country, East Timor, at least 27 died.
Some residents of Lembata Island may have been dragged through the mud into the sea. The district deputy chief hoped that help was on the way.
“We were only able to search the coast, not in the deepest areas, because of the lack of equipment yesterday,” Thomas Ola Langoday told Reuters by telephone.
Lembata suffered a volcano eruption last month, destroying vegetation on top of the mountain, which allowed hardened lava to slide towards 300 houses when the cyclone struck, he said.
Langoday feared that many bodies were still buried under large rocks.
President Joko Widodo held a cabinet meeting on Tuesday to speed up evacuation and relief efforts and the restoration of power.
“If we can’t get there by road, I ask that we quickly open access by sea and by air,” said the president, adding that extreme weather conditions have made it difficult to distribute aid.
The head of the search and rescue agency, Doni Monardo, said on Tuesday that help from the military and volunteers was on the way.
Monardo said there are health concerns about evacuation centers becoming overcrowded and that authorities will provide COVID-19 rapid test kits to try to prevent an outbreak.