Thousands of people had to be evacuated as water surged through villages following hours of heavy rain on Thursday.

"We found eight dead bodies and are still searching for six people reportedly missing," local official Muhammad Jafar told AFP in Tangse, a town 180 kilometres (110 miles) southeast of the provincial capital Banda Aceh.

"Before the floods came, people were just relaxing in their houses. When they heard a roaring sound, they panicked and started to run to the hills to save their lives," another official, Nazir Adam said.

He said the number of dead could rise as one village had been completely cut off by the waters.

"The floods occurred because of illegal logging activity surrounding this area. There are many logs scattered on the road here now which came with the floods," he said.

Last year, flash floods in the remote area of Papua killed at least 148 people. The government denied the floods in Papua were caused by rampant deforestation.

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