Jakarta. A European Space Agency (ESA) satellite captured the scale of the deadly floods engulfing parts of Aceh, offering one of the clearest visual confirmations yet of the disaster that has devastated northern Sumatra since late November.

High-resolution images taken by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite on Nov. 29 show vast stretches east of Lhokseumawe submerged, with neighborhoods and farmland appearing almost entirely underwater. The ESA release on Thursday said the satellite view highlights the extent of the damage, as unusually intense monsoon rains triggered widespread flooding across coastal communities.

"Severe flooding was caused by heavy monsoon rains across the region, with flash floods and overflowing rivers displacing local populations and submerging neighbourhoods," ESA stated.

The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission is based on a constellation of two identical satellites in the same orbit but on opposite sides of the globe. Each satellite carries an innovative wide swath high-resolution multispectral imager with 13 spectral bands.

Orbiting at an altitude of 786 km, the mission passes over the same location on Earth every five days and is often called upon to provide data to support emergency response efforts. The Disasters Charter, which turns 25 this year, has been activated to provide satellite data over Indonesia.

Local authorities have described the flooding in North Aceh, which began on Nov. 26, as one of the worst natural disasters to hit the region in decades. In a formal letter to the president dated Dec. 2, North Aceh Regent Ismail A. Jalil said the scale of destruction “exceeds the damage caused by the 2004 earthquake and tsunami,” urging the central government to step in as the district is unable to manage the emergency on its own.

According to the latest data from the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) as of Thursday, the death toll has reached 776, while 564 people remain missing. Another 2,600 residents have been injured.

Across the 50 affected districts and municipalities, damage to residential homes has reached 10,400 units. The disaster also destroyed 354 public facilities, 132 houses of worship, nine health facilities, and 100 buildings and government offices. In the education sector, 213 schools and other learning facilities were damaged, while 295 bridges were affected, most of which are now impassable.

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