Floods and landslides in Southeast Asia kill more than 1,000 people as climate change accelerates monsoon season

Padang, Indonesia— The death toll from floods and landslides in parts of Asia surpassed 1,000 on Monday as Sri Lanka and Indonesia, the worst-hit countries, deployed military personnel to help survivors.

Last week, separate weather systems brought prolonged, torrential rain across the island of Sri Lanka and much of Indonesia’s Sumatra, southern Thailand and northern Malaysia. Much of the region is currently in the monsoon season, but scientists say Climate change is producing more extreme rainfall events.and turbocharger storms all over the planet.

Incessant rains left residents clinging to rooftops waiting to be rescued by boat or helicopter, and entire towns were cut off from assistance.

Arriving in North Sumatra on Monday, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto said “we hope the worst is over.”

The government’s “priority now is how to immediately send the necessary aid,” with special attention to several isolated areas, he added.

Prabowo has come under increasing pressure to declare a national emergency in response to floods and landslides that have killed at least 502 people and more than 500 are still missing.

Unlike his Sri Lankan counterpart, he has also not publicly called for international assistance.

The death toll is the deadliest in a natural disaster in Indonesia since a massive 2018 earthquake and subsequent tsunami killed more than 2,000 people in Sulawesi.

The government has sent three warships carrying aid and two hospital ships to some of the worst-affected areas, where many roads remain impassable.

At an evacuation center in northern Aceh, Misbahul Munir, 28, described how she walked through neck-deep water to return to her parents.

“Everything in the house was destroyed because it was submerged,” he told News.

“I only have the clothes on my back,” she said, breaking down into tears. “In other places there were many people who died. We are grateful to be healthy.”

Meanwhile, in Sri Lanka, the government called for international help and used military helicopters to reach people trapped by floods and landslides caused by Cyclone Ditwah.

At least 340 people have died, Sri Lankan officials said Monday, and many more remain missing.

Flooding in the capital, Colombo, peaked overnight and with the rain now gone, there were hopes the waters would begin to recede. Some stores and offices began to reopen.

The floods surprised some in Colombo.

“Every year we suffer small floods, but this is something else,” delivery driver Dinusha Sanjaya told News. “It’s not just about the amount of water, but how quickly everything sank.”

Officials said the extent of damage in the hard-hit central region was just emerging as relief workers cleared roads blocked by fallen trees and landslides.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who declared a state of emergency to deal with the disaster, called the floods “the largest and most challenging natural disaster in our history.”

The loss and damage is the worst in Sri Lanka since the devastating 2004 Asian tsunami which killed some 31,000 people there and left more than a million homeless.