Payabedi – When his home in Kampung Dalam village was hit by flash floods, Ishak volunteered to stay behind as the boat sent by his wife's family could not carry all 13 people trapped in the house.
Aceh Tamiang district, where they lived, was the worst hit by the floods which inundated northern Sumatra.
His wife Asrianti, 23 and their three-month-old baby daughter, Laila Salisa, were among the 20 people packed into the speedboat intended to carry them to safety. Ishak and four others stayed behind. It was the last time he saw his wife and daughter alive.
Asrianti's sister Muridawati, 31, recounted how they tried to escape. "On Saturday afternoon, my house, with 13 people in it, was trapped by the water," Muridawati told AFP.
"I called my family in Payabedi to send a boat to pick us up, but they didn't reach my house until 11:00 pm that night because of the strong currents," she said.
She was among the eight people from the house who went first in the speedboat. They were heading through the night for higher ground in Payabedi when disaster struck.
"On the way to Payabedi, water entered the boat from the bow, and all 20 people on the boat moved towards the stern, then the boat capsized," she said. Asrianti and her baby went missing in the dark and confusion.
"They found her body the next morning and her baby on Monday," her sister said.
Ishak, who stayed behind to let his wife and child escape, did not find out they were missing until the following day.
"I didn't know my wife was missing until about 9:00 am on Sunday, when her family in Payabedi came and told me. We went searching the hospitals but we didn't find her," he said.
"Her body was found about 200 metres from where the boat capsized. She was buried later on Sunday in Payabedi. Baby Laila was not found until a day later."
Aceh Tamiang was the worst hit by the floods, with nearly the whole population of 239,000 evacuated, according to official figures. Some 44 people were killed and 205 are still missing.
More than 100,000 had returned to their homes by Thursday afternoon, to face a massive clean up of houses filled with mud and water.