Jakarta – Logs were washed away by flash floods in North Sumatra. The large number of logs became the public spotlight. The video of the log went viral on social media. Many netizens have linked the logs to illegal logging practices that exacerbate floods and landslides. Flash floods brought piles of logs to South Tapanuli, Central Tapanuli and Sibolga districts. Until now, the origin of these logs is unknown. Scroll TO CONTINUE CONTENT Response of the Governor of North Sumatra The Governor of North Sumatra (North Sumatra) Bobby Nasution responded to the logs that were carried away by the flood currents. Bobby admitted he would check it out. “Yes, we will see later (about the number of logs),” said Bobby Nasution at Soewondo Air Base in Medan, reported by detikSumut on Thursday (11/27/2025). According to Bobby, their focus is currently on evacuating affected residents. Including expediting logistics delivery. “What is certain is that we are currently focusing on evacuating residents and also expediting logistics for residents’ needs, both food needs and daily needs such as babies needing diapers,” he said. Logs on West Sumatra beach. Reported by Antara, Saturday (29/11/2025), not only in North Sumatra, logs were also scattered on Air Tawar Beach, Padang, West Sumatra (Sumbar). Logs lie scattered along the beach after flash floods. This heap is proof of the strength of the water that carries material from upstream to the shore. Timber material has been carried away by flash floods and now fills the coastline. This view shows the real impact of flash floods in the last few days in Padang. Ministry of Forestry will investigate The Ministry of Forestry (Kemenhut) has responded to the circulation of a video of logs being carried away by flood currents. The Ministry of Forestry suspects that the logs of land rights holders (PHAT) are located in other use areas (APL). “We detected that it is from PHAT in APL. PHAT is the holder of land rights. In the logging area we detected from PHAT in APL, the mechanism for natural growth of wood follows Forestry Regulations, in this case SIPPUH, Forest Product Administration Information System,” said Director General of Law Enforcement (Gakkum) of the Ministry of Forestry, Nura Dwi Janu. (29/11/2025). Allegedly weathered logbook. Temporary suspicion is that the wood comes from logs that have become so rotted that they were carried away by the flood currents. To reveal all this, it is necessary to carry out a thorough inspection by the Ministry of Forestry’s Gakkum team, as flooding still occurs today. Dwi said that the Ministry of Forestry’s Gakkum often conducts operations to uncover the modus operandi of stealing illegal timber as a result of illegal logging by PHAT. Including a number of cases found in the areas of Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra, which are currently experiencing flooding. Asked about the possibility that the timber came from illegal timber theft through the PHAT scheme, Dwi said his party could not rule out the potential that the timber came from a similar method. “Friends are still watching, yes, but we will signal there,” he explained. (Dec/May)