Rains in western Indonesia leave 5 dead, 2,700 homes flooded

Torrential rains in Indonesia’s third largest city caused four rivers to overflow, flooding thousands of homes and killing at least five people, officials said Friday.

The local disaster mitigation agency said rescuers were searching for two others who were reportedly still missing, including a toddler, after the heavy rains in Medan, the capital of North Sumatra province.

At least five people were found dead after being swept away by the floods, which began Thursday evening, the agency said in a statement. More than 2,700 houses were flooded in the city, which has about 2.9 million people, forcing authorities to cut off electricity and water supplies, it said.

On Friday, rescuers took 181 people to temporary shelters after floodwaters reached as high as 5 meters (16 feet) in several places. The agency said much of the water had receded by Friday evening. Floods and landslides are common in Indonesia during the rainy season. Severe flooding and landslides that hit greater Jakarta early this year killed more than 60 people, displaced hundreds of thousands and forced an airport to close.