Closing summary
Sri Lanka and Indonesia have deployed military personnel as they race to help victims of devastating flooding that has killed over 1,100 people across four countries in Asia.
In Indonesia, at least 604 people have been killed and 464 remain missing, according to the national disaster agency. The provinces of Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra have been hardest hit, with thousands of people reportedly isolated without vital supplies. Hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated from homes across three provinces on the western Indonesian island of Sumatra alone.
Public anger is mounting over what many say was an ill-prepared governmental response to the deadly floods and the sluggish delivery of much-needed food aid has been blamed on bureaucratic hurdles.
The government is coming under pressure to declare a national emergency in response to the flooding. The Indonesian president, Prabowo Subianto, said “the worst has passed, hopefully” earlier today.
In Sri Lanka, the government called for international aid and used military helicopters to reach people stranded by flooding and landslides triggered by Cyclone Ditwah. At least 355 people have been killed, according to officials, with another 366 estimated to still be missing.
Over 170 people are reported to have been killed in Thailand, with the southern province of Songkhla being the hardest-hit. The flooding has caused severe disruptions, leaving thousands of people stranded, rendering streets impassable and submerging low-rise buildings and vehicles.
Three deaths have been confirmed by officials in Malaysia.
Thanks for following along today. We are closing the blog now. You can read about the latest flooding developments in this wrap-up story by the Guardian’s south-east Asia correspondent, Rebecca Ratcliffe.
Updated
Tens of thousands of children out of school in Indonesia and Thailand, charity says
Tens of thousands of children are out of school in Indonesia and Thailand after the catastrophic flooding caused huge disruption to education, Save the Children has said.
The charity says in a press release that at least 1,000 schools have been damaged and closed in Aceh, among the hardest hit provinces in Indonesia, and Sumatra.
Teaching has been postponed as some schools are being used as emergency shelters, housing people in urgent need of food and shelter.
Speaking from Nias island, one of the impacted areas in Sumatra, Fadli Usman, humanitarian director, Save the Children Indonesia said:
Blocked roads, power cuts and the disruption of essential services are putting children’s health and psychological wellbeing at risk. This is an uncertain time for children – they have lost homes, schools and loved ones.
It’s vital that children’s needs and rights are prioritised, including providing safe places for them and their families to stay, nutritious food, access to clean water and protection.
About 76,000 children are out of school due to the flooding in southern Thailand, according to an assessment conducted by Save the Children in 7 out of the 12 affected provinces. As is the case in parts of Indonesia, schools have been forced to close in areas in southern Thailand, with some being used as emergency shelters housing people whose houses have been submerged by the floods.
Save the Children warn that thousands of children’s education has been interrupted as power cuts and damaged infrastructure prevent them from being able to learn online.
Updated
Officials have reported at least three deaths after heavy rains and flooding swept through at least eight states in Malaysia (Perlis, Perak, Kedah, Selangor, Kelantan, Pahang, Terengganu and Negeri Sembilan).
State news agency Bernama is reporting that floods in Negeri Sembilan have fully receded, with the situation improving in the seven other states.
About 11,600 people are, however, still in evacuation centres, according to the country’s disaster agency, which said it was still on alert for a second and third wave of flooding.
Updated
Indonesians face exhausting clean-up while villages are still cut-off
On the Indonesian island of Sumatra, pictures and videos show people scrambling across crumbling barricades, flooded roads and broken glass to get their hands on food, medicine and fuel.
Some were wading through waist-deep flood waters to reach damaged convenience stores.
The chaos has also led to looting and other crimes. Police said the thefts had taken place before officers could get there.
In many parts though, avalanches and other hurdles have cut off already remote communities. Bridges have been washed away, trees are topples and the roads are caked in mud.
With cars and larger vehicles unable to traverse such roads, aid workers are trying to reach people on motorbikes, even on foot.
Across South and South East Asia, at least 1,100 people have been killed in flooding and landslides due to extreme wet weather this past week.
The death toll is expected to rise given that in recently-hit areas like Indonesia, people are still trying to recover and find their loved ones.
While rare tropical storm has passed through the Malacca Strait, communities are now trying to recover, with the mud and wind hampering efforts.
The death toll put out by various national authorities so far as of 21:30 Monday 1 December, in most parts of South-East Asia (13:30 UTC):
Indonesia: 600+
Sri Lanka: 366
Thailand: 176
Updated
Here are some of the latest images being sent over to us on the newswires:
The death toll in Indonesia from the floods and landslides has risen again, to 604, the country’s disaster mitigation agency said. Another 464 people are still reported to be missing.
Updated
Electricity supply in West Sumatra is being restored, but power in North Sumatra and Aceh remains disrupted, Al Jazeera has quoted the deputy minister of energy and mineral resources Yuliot Tanjung as having said.
Updated
Death toll rises to 593 in Indonesia, officials say, meaning Asia floods death toll passes 1,100
The death toll from the devastating floods and landslides in Indonesia has risen to 593 (up from 502), the national disaster agency has reported in an update, as rescue workers continue to battle to reach affected areas.
It said 468 people were missing, while more than 578,000 others were evacuated from homes across three provinces on the western Indonesian island of Sumatra.
The Indonesian death toll revision mean that the toll in deadly flooding and landslides across Indonesia, Thailand (176 deaths), Sri Lanka (355 deaths) Malaysia (three deaths) climbed past 1,100 on Monday.
Updated
The UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (OCHA) has warned of the strains the flooding in Sri Lanka is putting on the country’s already fragile health system.
In an update posted yesterday, the OCHA said several district hospitals were flooded and are receiving only basic supplies. Critically ill patients had to be airlifted to functioning hospitals to continue treatment, it added.
Separately, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said flooding significantly increases the risk of food/water/vector-borne diseases, urging people to use safe drinking water, ensure food hygiene and protect against mosquito bites when possible.
Cyclone Ditwah, which unleashed catastrophic flooding and landslides across Sri Lanka, has brought heavy rain to India’s southern state of Tamil Nadu.
The storm, now about 30 miles off the coast of the city of Chennai, the state capital, has weakened into a “deep depression”, according to weather officials, who expect it to weaken even further across the day.
Updated
This interactive shows how warm seas contribute to cyclone frequency and strength:
Is human-caused climate breakdown making floods worse? How do we adapt to flooding?
The climate crisis has affected storm patterns, including the duration and intensity of the annual monsoon season, leading to heavier rainfall, flash flooding and stronger wind gusts. The Guardian’s Europe environment correspondent, Ajit Niranjan, has written this useful explainer on the impacts, human causes and affects of flooding generally, and outlines what effective adaptation/management looks like. Here is an extract from the piece:
The burning of fossil fuels has heated the planet, increasing the risk of extreme rains that lead to floods around the world, particularly in Europe, most of Asia, central and eastern North America, and parts of South America, Africa and Australia. A well-established rule of physics is that warm air can hold more moisture – about 7% for every 1C – though whether it does so or not depends on how much water is available. When heavy rain does fall, clouds can unleash far more water.
Perhaps surprisingly, a lack of water can also worsen floods, by drying out the ground. Hard, caked soil does not absorb water so it runs off and pools in lower-lying regions, allowing water levels to rise much faster than otherwise.
Flooding is also affected by human factors such as the existence of flood defences and land use …
Globally, the biggest progress in saving lives has come from early warning systems that alert people to danger and help them escape before it strikes …
Building dykes and retention basins can limit the damage from heavy rainfall. In cities, parks and other green spaces can also soak up rain before it turns into a flood. On coasts, sea walls can keep the waters out.
But scientists warn there are limits to adaptation as the planet heats up. They increasingly talk about “managed retreat” to permanently move people out of harm’s way – a route that some communities around the world have already gone down. This can mean abandoning homes, towns and, in the case of small island states being submerged by the sea, entire countries.
Updated
Rebecca Ratcliffe is the Guardian’s south-east Asia correspondent
In Thailand, the deputy prime minister, Thamanat Prompow, visited Hat Yai, one of the worst-affected areas, on Monday. He said provincial water and electricity authorities had been ordered to restore services immediately and that solar lamps were being distributed.
Local media reported that 80% of people in Hat Yai had returned home from evacuation centres to survey the damage, and recovery and cleanup operations were under way.
People in Hat Yai have been urged to register for 9,000 baht (£215) compensation from the government, while a interest-free loan of 100,000 baht will also be made available.
The region’s monsoon season often brings heavy rains that can cause landslides and flash floods, but recent flooding in south-east Asia has been exacerbated by a rare tropical storm formed in the Malacca strait.
Human-caused climate breakdown has increased the occurrence of the most intense and destructive tropical cyclones, though the overall number per year has not changed globally. This is because warming oceans provide more energy, producing stronger storms. Extreme rainfall from tropical cyclones has increased substantially, as warmer air holds more water vapour.
You can read the full story here:
The floods in Thailand have killed more than 170 people across eight southern provinces. The southern Songkhla province has reported the most deaths.
The flooding, which began just over a week ago, has caused severe disruptions, leaving thousands of people stranded, rendering streets impassable and submerging low-rise buildings and vehicles.
Relief measures rolled out by the Thai government include compensation for households that lost family members, debt suspension and short-term, interest-free loans for businesses and home repairs.
But, as my colleague Angelique Chrisafis notes in this story, there has been growing public criticism of Thailand’s flood response, and two local officials have been suspended over their alleged failures.
Emergency workers in Indonesia have found it difficult reaching many residents, especially those in areas cut off by landslides and collapsed bridges.
Authorities have particularly struggled to reach two cities hit hard by the flooding in North Sumatra: Central Tapanuli and Sibolga.
Indonesian government criticised for what many see as an ill-prepared disaster response
Now turning to Indonesia, where public anger is mounting over what many say was an ill-prepared governmental response to the deadly floods.
Cyclone Senyar, which formed over the Malacca Strait, a stretch of water connecting the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, made landfall last Wednesday, unleashing heavy rainfall that triggered flash floods and landslides in North Sumatra before continuing its devastating path in Aceh and West Sumatra.
As we reported in the opening summary, the death toll from the floods in Indonesia stands at 502, official data showed on Monday. About 508 people are missing and 2,500 others injured.
Some areas of Indonesia remain unreachable after the disaster damaged roads and communications lines, with residents in affected areas relying on aircraft delivering supplies.
Although the easing of rainfall over the past two days is a welcomed sign, many people have not received food aid and are reportedly struggling to access clean water. There have been some reports of looting in districts in Aceh and North Sumatra, amid scenes of desperation.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has come under pressure to declare a national emergency in response to flooding and landslides. Unlike his Sri Lankan counterpart, he has also not publicly called for international assistance. The sluggish delivery of food aid has been blamed by many on unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles.
Updated
The Sri Lankan president, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, declared a state of emergency on Saturday to deal with the aftermath of Cyclone Ditwah and appealed for international aid. He called it the “most challenging natural disaster” Sri Lanka has seen.
The extreme weather system had, as of Sunday, destroyed more than 25,000 homes and forced 147,000 people into state-run temporary shelters. A further 968,000 people required assistance after being displaced by the floods.
The cyclone is Sri Lanka’s deadliest extreme weather disaster since 2017, when flooding and landslides claimed more than 200 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
Record rains hit he country from last Thursday causing multiple landslides in the hilly central region while overflowing rivers submerged entire towns.
Over 24,000 police, army and air force personnel are still trying to reach families stranded by floods, authorities said, with several countries having sent in aid to help with relief efforts, notably India and Japan.
Updated
Sri Lanka death toll increases to 355, officials say in update
The death toll in Sri Lanka has increased to 355, the country’s disaster management center said in its latest situation report, adding that another 366 people were missing.
Most of the deaths (88) occurred in the city of Kandy, followed by the central mountainous tea-growing regions of Nuwara Eliya (75) and Badulla (71), according to the officials.
Updated
Desperate search for survivors as Asia flood toll exceeds 1,000
The flooding and landslides that have devastated parts of Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Sri Lanka over recent days have killed more than 1,000 people, according to authorities.
The death toll for the floods in Indonesia has risen to 502, the national disaster management agency has said in a new update, with another 508 people missing.
At least 340 people have been killed in Sri Lanka, officials said on Monday, with many more still missing. Flood waters in the capital, Colombo, peaked overnight, and with rain now stopped there were hopes that waters would begin receding.
Sri Lanka and Indonesia have deployed military personnel to help victims of the catastrophic flooding as rescue workers race to reach possible survivors in some of the hardest hit areas.
Flooding has killed at least 176 people in southern Thailand, according to officials, one of the deadliest flood incidents in the country in a decade.
Across the border, at least two deaths have been reported in Malaysia’s northern Perlis state. Stay with us as we give you the latest developments from the region.
