Severe Flooding in Southern Asia Claims Hundreds of Lives

Mon Dec 01 2025 00:39:40 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

Torrential rains and tropical storms have led to devastating floods across southern Asia, resulting in approximately 700 fatalities and missing persons, particularly in Indonesia, Thailand, and Sri Lanka.

Southern Asia is reeling from devastating floods caused by monsoon rains intensified by tropical storms, claiming close to 700 lives and leaving hundreds more missing. The worst affected areas include Indonesia, where rescue efforts continue amidst chaos, and Thailand, where rainfall records have been shattered. Sri Lanka has also declared a state of emergency following landslides. The region's annual monsoon, worsened by climate change, has triggered severe flooding across these nations.

Torrential rains have triggered floods and landslides across parts of southern Asia, killing about 700 people.

Monsoon rain exacerbated by tropical storms caused some of the region's worst flooding in years, with millions affected in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Sri Lanka.

Intense rainfall began on the Indonesian island of Sumatra on Wednesday. During the flood, everything was gone, a resident of Bireuen in Sumatra's Aceh province told Reuters news agency. I wanted to save my clothes, but my house came down.

With hundreds still missing, the death toll is likely to rise. Thousands remain stranded, some awaiting rescue on rooftops.

As of Saturday more than 300 people had died in Indonesia, 160 in Thailand, and at least two in Malaysia. In Sri Lanka, which has been battered by heavy rains and a cyclone, more than 130 people are dead and some 170 missing, officials said.

Indonesia's disaster agency said on Saturday that nearly 300 people were still missing after flooding devastated Sumatra. An exceptionally rare tropical cyclone, Cyclone Senyar, caused catastrophic landslides and flooding, with homes swept away and thousands of buildings submerged.

In Pidie Jaya Regency in Aceh Province, resident Arini Amalia told the BBC: The current was very fast, in a matter of seconds it reached the streets, entered the houses. She and her grandmother raced to a relative's house on higher terrain. On returning to retrieve belongings, she said the flood had completely swallowed their house. It's already sunk.\p>

After waters rapidly rose in West Sumatra, Meri Osman said he was swept away by the current and clung onto a clothesline until he was rescued. Rescue operations have been hampered by bad weather, yet tens of thousands have been evacuated while hundreds remain stranded, according to the Indonesian disaster agency.

In southern Thailand, the flooding has claimed at least 145 lives, with over 3.8 million people affected. The city of Hat Yai experienced 335mm of rainfall in a day, the heaviest in 300 years. Officials have reported an increase in the death toll as waters recede.

In Sri Lanka, at least 132 people have been killed due to landslides, and the government declared a state of emergency, requesting international assistance.

Meteorologists attribute the extreme weather to interactions between Typhoon Koto and Cyclone Senyar, with changing climate contributing to their intensity and frequency.