Devastating flooding has killed more than 1,100 people across four countries in Asia, with Sri Lanka and Indonesia deploying military personnel on Monday to help victims.
Millions have been affected by the deadly combination of tropical cyclones (typhoons) and heavy monsoon rains.
In Indonesia, flash floods and landslides in Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra have killed 604 people, with 464 still missing, according to the national disaster agency.
The death toll stands at 366 in Sri Lanka, with 366 missing and 176 dead in Thailand. Three deaths have been reported in Malaysia, where heavy rains also inundated large stretches of land in Perlis state.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto said, “the worst has passed, hopefully”, during a visit to North Sumatra province on Monday, adding that the government’s priority was immediately sending the necessary aid and focusing on several isolated villages.
His government has sent three warships carrying aid and two hospital ships to some of the worst-hit areas, where many roads remain impassable. But unlike his Sri Lankan counterpart, he has not publicly called for international help.
The flooding is the deadliest event in Indonesia since the 2018 earthquake and subsequent tsunami that killed more than 2,000 people in Sulawesi.
Sri Lanka has declared a state of emergency and called for international aid after Cyclone Ditwah triggered flooding and landslides in the country. Military helicopters have been deployed to reach people stranded.
At least 148,000 have been evacuated, 366 people have been killed and many remain missing, according to officials.
Floodwaters in the capital, Colombo, peaked overnight, and there was hope that they would begin to recede when the rain stopped. Some shops and offices began to reopen, but officials said the extent of the damage in the worst-affected central region was only just being revealed as relief workers cleared roads blocked by fallen trees and mudslides.
In Ma Oya, just north of the capital, Hasitha Wijewardena said he was struggling to clean up after the floods. “The water has gone down, but the house is now full of mud,” he told local reporters, appealing for military help to clean up.
Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who declared a state of emergency to deal with the disaster, vowed to build back: “We are facing the largest and most challenging natural disaster in our history. Certainly, we will build a better nation than what existed before.”
The losses and damage are the worst in Sri Lanka since the devastating 2004 Asian tsunami that killed around 31,000 people there and left more than a million homeless.
By Sunday afternoon, rain had subsided across Sri Lanka, but low-lying areas of the capital were flooded, and authorities were bracing for a major relief operation. Military helicopters have been deployed to airlift stranded residents and deliver food, though one crashed just north of Colombo on Sunday evening.
Selvi, 46, who lives in Wennawatte in Colombo, left her flooded home on Sunday, carrying four bags of clothes and valuables.
“My house is completely flooded. I don’t know where to go, but I hope there is some safe shelter where I can take my family,” she said.
Much of Asia is in its annual monsoon season, which often brings heavy rain, triggering landslides and flash floods. But the flooding that hit Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia was also exacerbated by a rare tropical storm that dumped heavy rain on Sumatra Island in particular.
Climate change has also increased the intensity of storms and produced more heavy rain events because a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture.
In Thailand, waves of rain caused flooding that killed at least 176 people in the country’s south, authorities said Monday.
It is one of the deadliest flood incidents in the country in a decade. While the government has rolled out relief measures, public criticism of the flood response has grown. Two local officials have been suspended over their alleged failures.
