A week after flash floods and landslides swept through Sikumbang village of West Sumatra’s Agam district, survivors are still waiting for news of their missing loved ones.

Zahari Sutra, a father of three young girls, still clings to hope.

Holding photos of his missing wife and two daughters aged 4 and 2-year-old, he pleads for help: “I’ve waited far too long. Other victims have been found, so why are my wife and daughter still missing?”

Sutra is a farmer who lived with his wife and three daughters in Sikumbang village, Agam, West Sumatra — a small community of a few dozen houses, most of which were swept away by the massive flood on 27 November 2025.

He recalled that he had ridden his motorcycle to a shop about two kilometers from his home to buy diapers for his children.

The weather was drizzling, with dark clouds hanging overhead.

On his way back, he was blocked by rising floods as he approached the village. He tried to save himself by moving his motorcycle into a cornfield, he recalled.

Worried about his wife and children, Sutra decided to wade through the floodwaters, which had risen to knee level.

“I forced myself to cross the water because when I shouted for my wife and children, no one responded. When I finally reached the village and began walking toward my house, just as I was nearing it, a massive surge of water came. I had to hold on until morning,” he said.

He pointed out the direction where the waters began to surge in the village.

Sikumbang, a green farming village, has turned into a wasteland of broken timber and shattered homes.

Torrential rains unleashed a surge of mud and logs, sweeping through villages and erasing entire neighborhoods.

Homes were reduced to twisted metal and broken walls. Roads have vanished, replaced by rivers of sludge. Trees groves stand amid pools of stagnant water mark where lives once thrived.

A devastating flash flood swept away not only homes but his wife and two daughters, aged 4 and 2 years old, leaving behind a landscape of grief and despair.

For Sutra and many others, the search continues—through mud, debris, and heartbreak.

“My only hope is that my wife and children can be found soon," he said.

AP video shot by Ade Yuandha