Padang, Indonesia — Widespread flooding and landslides driven by torrential monsoon rains have killed more than 1,000 people across parts of Southeast Asia, rescuers and militaries said as they scrambled to reach stranded survivors.
Separate weather systems brought prolonged heavy rain to Sri Lanka, large parts of Indonesia’s Sumatra, southern Thailand and northern Malaysia. Scientists say climate change is making rainfall extremes worse, intensifying storms and producing heavier, more destructive downpours during monsoon seasons.
Relentless rains forced people onto rooftops awaiting boat and helicopter rescues and cut numerous villages off from aid. Arriving in North Sumatra, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto said “the worst has passed, hopefully,” and said the government’s immediate task was to get food, medicine and other supplies to isolated communities.
Indonesia has reported at least 502 deaths and more than 500 people remain missing. The president has faced calls to declare a national emergency. Unlike Sri Lanka, Indonesia had not publicly requested international help, instead dispatching three warships loaded with relief supplies and two hospital ships to the hardest-hit areas, where many roads remain impassable. The disaster is the deadliest natural calamity in Indonesia since the 2018 Sulawesi earthquake and tsunami that killed over 2,000 people.
At an evacuation center in North Aceh, 28-year-old Misbahul Munir described wading waist- to neck-deep through floodwater to reach his parents. “Everything in the house was destroyed because it was submerged,” he told AFP. “I have only the clothes I am wearing. In other places, there were a lot of people who died. We are grateful that we are healthy.”
Sri Lanka requested international aid and deployed military helicopters to reach people trapped by flooding and landslides linked to Cyclone Ditwah. Officials said at least 340 people were killed and many others remain missing. Floodwaters in the capital, Colombo, peaked overnight before easing in some areas, allowing shops and offices to begin reopening.
Residents around Colombo said the speed and severity of the floods felt extraordinary. “Every year we experience minor floods, but this is something else,” delivery driver Dinusha Sanjaya told AFP. “It is not just the amount of water, but how quickly everything went under.”
Authorities warned the full scope of damage is still emerging as relief teams clear roads blocked by fallen trees and mudslides and assess remote central regions. Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake declared a state of emergency, calling the event the country’s “largest and most challenging natural disaster in our history,” and officials said losses were the worst since the 2004 Asian tsunami.
Relief operations continue across the affected countries as officials work to reach cut-off communities, account for missing residents and restore basic services amid ongoing recovery and search efforts.