Indonesia Floods: Death Toll surges to 442 Across Southeast Asia
The death toll from flooding and landslides on Indonesia’s Sumatra island has risen dramatically to 442, officials say.
The total passed 300 earlier on sunday, with evacuation efforts under way, major roads cut off, and internet and electricity only partially restored.
Monsoons exacerbated by tropical storms have caused some of the worst flooding in years across South East Asia.Hundreds are dead and missing in Malaysia and Thailand as well, with millions affected across the region.
The official death toll in Thailand currently sits at 170, with two deaths reported in Malaysia’s northern Perlis state.
Elsewhere, there have been nearly 160 deaths in sri Lanka due to a bout of particularly extreme weather that has caused flooding and mudslides.
In Thailand’s southern Songkhla province, water rose 3m (10ft) and at least 145 people died in one of the worst floods in a decade.
Across the 10 provinces hit by flooding, more then 3.8 million people have been affected, the government said on saturday.
The city of Hat Yai experienced 335mm of rainfall in a single day last week – the heaviest in 300 years. As waters receded, officials recorded a sharp rise in the death toll.At one hospital in Hat Yai, workers were forced to move bodies to refrigerated trucks after the morgue became overwhelmed, news agency AFP reported.
“We were stuck in the water for seven days and no agency came to help,” Hat Yai resident Thanita Khiawhom told BBC Thai.
The government has promised relief measures, including compensation of up to two million baht ($62,000) for households that had lost family members.
In Indonesia,hundreds are still missing after heavy rains wreaked havoc on the island of Sumatra.
Worth a look