Severe weather across parts of Asia has claimed nearly 1,000 lives, with Indonesia and Sri Lanka among the worst affected by heavy rainfall, flooding and landslides.
Three tropical cyclones, coinciding with the northeast monsoon that typically brings heavy downpours to Southeast Asia at this time of year, have caused widespread destruction in the region.
Peninsular Malaysia and southern Thailand have also received significantly above-normal rains in the past week, according to data from the US Climate Prediction Centre.
In Indonesia’s Sumatra island, a week of torrential rains intensified by a rare cyclone has left at least 442 people dead and another 402 missing, and officials warned casualty numbers will likely climb as rescue teams deploy boats and helicopters to reach affected areas.
Storm Senyar, which circled the Strait of Malacca last week, has now dissipated over the South China Sea, according to the Hong Kong Observatory.
Cut-off roads and disabled communication networks are complicating rescue and relief efforts, Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency head, Suharyanto, said in a briefing on Sunday, the Jakarta Post reported.
Infrastructure damage is extensive, blocking access to several villages and forcing authorities to deploy helicopters and navy ships to move supplies. Residents have described the flooding as the “worst in our lifetime,” with some homes submerged up to their rooftops.
The Indonesian government has also carried out a number of aerial cloud seeding operations in an attempt to reduce rainfall over hard-hit areas, the national weather bureau said in a statement.
Flooding unleashed by the torrential rains in southern Thailand has claimed 176 lives and affected more than two million households, according to officials.
It is rare for tropical cyclones to form this close to the equator, in part because of a weaker rotational force, known as the Coriolis effect, at low latitudes. However, a combination of factors including warm water temperatures in the strait created the conditions for Senyar’s formation, the Hong Kong Observatory said.
In Sri Lanka, fatalities from heavy flooding rose sharply on Sunday, almost doubling to 334 dead and another 370 missing. Cyclone Ditwah, which came ashore in the island nation on Friday, is forecast to bring heavy rains to some parts of southern India on Monday, according to forecasts.
The storm’s passage has left Sri Lanka facing its “largest and most challenging natural disaster,” president Anura Kumara Dissanayake said in a national address Sunday night.
Meanwhile, Storm Koto is forecast to linger in the waters east of Vietnam as it gradually weakens over the next few days. It will likely bring more rains to central and northern-central Vietnam, which have already been pounded by storms and historic floods.
Rains are forecast to ease off to seasonal levels in most of the affected areas from midweek, with a drier trend predicted for Peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra around mid-December, according to an outlook. -Bloomberg
