Padang, Indonesia — The death toll from widespread flooding and landslides across parts of Southeast Asia topped 1,000 as rescue teams and militaries scrambled to reach survivors stranded by torrential monsoon rains.
Separate weather systems dumped prolonged heavy rain across Sri Lanka and large areas of Indonesia’s Sumatra, as well as parts of southern Thailand and northern Malaysia. Scientists say climate change is intensifying rainfall extremes and “turbocharging” storms, producing heavier, more destructive downpours during monsoon seasons.
Relentless rains left people clinging to rooftops for boat and helicopter rescues and cut many villages off from aid. Arriving in North Sumatra, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto said, “the worst has passed, hopefully,” and said the government’s immediate priority was getting necessary aid to isolated communities.
Indonesia has reported at least 502 deaths with more than 500 people still missing, and Prabowo has faced calls to declare a national emergency. Unlike Sri Lanka, Indonesia had not publicly asked for international assistance. The government dispatched three warships loaded with relief supplies and two hospital ships to the hardest-hit areas, where many roads remain impassable. The toll is Indonesia’s deadliest natural disaster since the 2018 Sulawesi earthquake and tsunami that killed more than 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.”
In Sri Lanka, authorities requested international aid and used military helicopters to reach people trapped by flooding and landslides triggered by Cyclone Ditwah. Officials said at least 340 people were killed, with many others missing. Floodwaters in the capital, Colombo, peaked overnight before easing in some areas, allowing shops and offices to begin reopening.
Many residents around Colombo said the speed and severity of the flooding was unusual. “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.”
Officials warned that the full extent of damage, especially in central regions, was only becoming clear as relief workers cleared roads blocked by fallen trees and mudslides. Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake declared a state of emergency and described the disaster as the country’s “largest and most challenging natural disaster in our history.” Officials said the losses were the worst since the 2004 Asian tsunami, which killed tens of thousands across the region and left more than a million people homeless.
Relief operations continue as authorities in the affected countries work to reach cut-off communities, account for missing residents, and restore basic services amid ongoing recovery efforts.
