This is the heart-stopping moment a baby was carried in a box across raging flash floods in Indonesia.

Footage shows a villager carefully balancing across a slippery roof as he carries a plastic storage box containing the child in Central Tapanuli Regency, North Sumatra Province, on November 26.

He then handed the container to other locals sheltering on the upper floor of a neighbouring building.

Residents were forced to evacuate as the floodwaters completely submerged the first floor of their homes.

Monsoon downpours have been pounding the island of Sumatra over the past week, triggering landslides and flash floods that submerged thousands of houses.

North Sumatra police spokesman Ferry Walinkutan said on Friday: 'As of this morning, the number of fatalities is 62, with 95 people injured, both serious and minor injuries. At least 65 people are still being searched for.'

While in neighbouring West Sumatra, at least 22 people were killed with 12 others missing.

Authorities said the flood crisis has left at least 84 people dead and dozens more missing on the island.

Indonesia and neighbouring countries in Southeast Asia are in their annual monsoon rainy season which sees soaring temperatures followed by powerful rainstorms in the afternoon leading to widespread flash floods.