Flood death toll passes 900 with hundreds still missing in Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka

Authorities in Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Thailand were yesterday racing to clear debris and find hundreds of missing people after devastating floods and landslides killed more than 900 across the south of Asia.

- Angelique Chrisafis

In the latest example of the impact of the climate crisis on storm patterns and extreme weather, monsoon rains exacerbated by a tropical storm have overwhelmed parts of southeast Asia, leaving thousands of people stranded without access to shelter or critical supplies.

Meanwhile, in Sri Lanka, the death toll from floods and landslides caused by Cyclone Ditwah rose sharply to 334, with many more still missing and low-lying areas of the capital, Colombo, under water, authorities said. It is the worst natural disaster to hit the island since the devastating 2004 tsunami that killed around 31,000 people and left more than a million homeless.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who has declared a state of emergency, vowed to build back with international support.

“We are facing the largest and most challenging natural disaster in our history,” he said in an address to the nation. “Certainly, we will build a better nation than what existed before.”

In Indonesia, more than 442 people had died and a further 402 were missing, officials said, as authorities tried to reach some of the hardest-hit areas of Sumatra island, where thousands of people were stranded. “The water just rose up into the house and we were afraid, so we fled. Then we came back on Friday, and the house was gone, destroyed,” Afrianti, 41, who goes by only one name, told Reuters in West Sumatra’s capital, Padang, where she was sheltering.