Indonesia Seeds Clouds to Prevent Further Floods, 59 Dead

Indonesian authorities are seeding clouds in an attempt to prevent further rain and flash floods after deluges hit Sumatra Island over the weekend, leaving at least 59 people dead and another 16 missing.

Indonesia is battling to prevent further rain and flash floods after deluges hit Sumatra Island over the weekend, leaving at least 59 people dead and another 16 missing.

On Wednesday, authorities seeded clouds in an attempt to redirect the rain elsewhere and keep the search operation free of downpours.

The floods were triggered by monsoon rains that caused a landslide of mud and cold lava from Mount Marapi. The deluge swept through mountainside villages in four districts in West Sumatra province just before midnight on Saturday.

The floods swept away people and dozens of homes and submerged hundreds of houses and buildings, forcing more than 1,500 families to flee to temporary government shelters.

Rescue workers are combing through rivers and the rubble of devastated villages where roads have been transformed into murky brown rivers and villages are covered by thick mud, rocks, and uprooted trees.

"The emergency response will last until May 25," said National Disaster Management Agency chief Suharyanto, who goes by a single name like many Indonesians. "Authorities are evaluating which areas are no longer inhabitable and which residents need to be relocated from the danger zone."

Suharyanto visited the devastated villages in hard-hit Tanah Datar district on Wednesday.

Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency has forecast more rain for West Sumatra in the coming days, and that extreme rainfall could continue until next week.

"An air force plane was sent up to shoot salt flares into the clouds to get the clouds to release water and break up before they reach the devastated areas in West Sumatra province," said Dwikorita Karnawati, head of the agency.

About 15 tons of salt have been prepared for the seeding operation.

"Indonesia’s air force teamed up with the country’s technology agency to carry out two rounds of cloud seeding Wednesday each using a ton of sodium chloride, or salt," said Abdul Muhari, disaster agency spokesperson.

Heavy rains cause frequent landslides and flash floods in Indonesia, an archipelago nation of more than 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near floodplains.

Marapi has been active since an eruption late last year that killed 23 climbers. It is among more than 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia. The country is prone to seismic upheaval because of its location on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.