Nowhere to pray as logs choke flood-hit Indonesian mosque

Aceh Tamiang, Indonesia: Almost two weeks on from devastating floods, Muslim worshippers in Indonesia s Sumatra who gathered at their local mosque on...

Aceh Tamiang, Indonesia: Almost two weeks on from devastating floods, Muslim worshippers in Indonesia's Sumatra who gathered at their local mosque on Friday for prayers were blocked from entering by a huge pile of thousands of uprooted trees.

The deadly torrential rains had inundated vast tracts of rainforest nearby, leaving residents of the Darul Mukhlisin mosque and Islamic boarding school to search elsewhere for places of worship that had been less damaged.

"We have no idea where all this wood came from," said Angga, 37, from the nearby village of Tanjung Karang.

Before the disaster, the mosque bustled with worshippers -- locals and students alike -- attending daily and Friday prayers.

"Now it's impossible to use. The mosque used to stand near a river," said Angga. "But the river is gone - it's turned into dead land."