- Death toll exceeded 1,100 due to flooding and landslides in Southeast Asia.
- Countries have declared their military to help rescue people and deliver aid.
- The hardest hit countries were Sri Lanka and Indonesia.
Torrential rains in multiple Southeast Asian countries over the last week have brought deadly flooding and landslides with a death toll over 1,100 as of Monday.
The rainfall was brought by separate weather systems to the entirety of Sri Lanka, parts of Indonesia, southern Thailand and northern Malaysia last week. The region is currently in its monsoon season, but according to CBS, the storms are being turbocharged by climate change.
Affected countries have also deployed military personnel to help survivors, some of whom were left clinging to rooftops as they waited for rescue by boat or helicopter. In some places, entire villages were cut off from assistance.
On Monday, after arriving in the impacted region, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto said “the worst has passed, hopefully.”
The floods have impacted millions of people across the region. Parts of Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia were hit by cyclone-fueled rains and Sri Lanka was battered by a separate storm that has created the most difficult rescue operation the country has seen, per CNN.
“This is the first time the entire country has been struck by such a disaster,” Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said in an address to the nation.
The official death toll is at least 1,135, with 604 deaths in Indonesia, 355 in Sri Lanka, 176 in Thailand and two in Malaysia, per CNN.
There are still many people missing across the impacted countries as authorities search for survivors.
How Indonesia was impacted by the floods
In Indonesia, President Subianto visited evacuees in the northern part of the island, while over 460 people are still missing. The country has deployed its military and police to help victims, per CNN.
Helicopters have been delivering supplies to Sumatra, the impacted area, which is known for its lush rainforests, active volcanoes and endangered orangutan population.
Rescuers have been working to reach stranded survivors since Tuesday when the rain caused rivers to overflow. Before aid arrived, some people resorted to stealing food and water in order to survive.
The Indonesian government’s priority is to immediately send necessary aid, especially to areas that have been cut off by the floods.
The president is also under pressure to declare a national emergency in response to the disaster, and he has yet to call for international assistance.
On Saturday, nearly 300,000 people in the country had been evacuated as more rain was forecast, according to The New York Times.
The devastating impact in Sri Lanka
The other country that was hardest hit by the flooding is Sri Lanka, which also experienced deadly mudslides. Over 1 million people in the country were impacted by the flooding and mudslides.
Authorities have reported at least 355 dead and another 366 missing, per CNN.
Over 25,000 homes were destroyed and 147,000 people have been forced into state-run temporary shelters.
Some residents were stranded for four days with no power or phone reception to call for help.
Sri Lanka’s government has called for international aid and is also using military helicopters to reach people stranded by disaster, per CNN. Dissanayake has declared a state of emergency to deal with the disaster.
Residents in Colombo, the country’s capital, said the floodwaters came as a surprise, since each year they typically experience minor floods but nothing like what happened last week.
The devastation was caused not just by the amount of water but also by how quickly the floodwaters rose and covered everything, per CBS.
Relief workers are also clearing roads blocked by fallen trees and mudslides to open access to cut off communities.
What the damage looks like in Thailand
The extreme weather in Thailand has affected 2.8 million people across the country. Authorities there are also airlifting survivors and flying in critical supplies, such as oxygen tanks, to submerged communities, per CNN.
Hat Yai City is in Thailand’s hardest-hit Songkhla region, recording levels of rain that only occur once in 300 years. The government has declared a state of emergency in the region.
Over 2 million people have been displaced by the flooding and many were rescued by the Thai military. The military has deployed troops and other resources such as an aircraft carrier with helicopters, medical personnel and field kitchens, per The New York Times.
How Malaysia was impacted by flooding
Malaysia has the lowest death toll of the impacted countries, with officials confirming that two people were killed, according to CNN. Ahead of the storm, the country evacuated around 34,000 people.