Deadly Asian floods seen as a climate warning

Southeast Asia is being pummeled by unusually severe floods this year, as late-arriving storms and relentless rains wreak havoc that has caught many places off guard.

- BY ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL AND ANTON L. DELGADO

BINSAR BAKKARA Associated Press A FLASH FLOOD hit a village in Indonesia's North Sumatra province this week.

HANOI Southeast Asia is being pummeled by unusually severe floods this year, as late-arriving storms and relentless rains wreak havoc that has caught many places off guard.

Deaths have topped 1,500 across Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand, with more than 1,000 still missing in floods and landslides. In Indonesia, entire villages remain cut off after bridges and roads were swept away.

Thousands in Sri Lanka lack clean water, and Thailand's prime minister acknowledged shortcomings in his government's response.

Malaysia is still reeling from one of its worst floods, which killed three and displaced thousands. Meanwhile, Vietnam and the Philippines have faced a year of punishing storms and floods that have left hundreds dead.

What feels unprecedented is exactly what climate scientists expect: more punishing storms, floods and devastation.

"Southeast Asia should brace for a likely continuation and potential worsening of extreme weather in 2026 and for many years immediately following that," said Jemilah Mahmood, who leads the think tank Sunway Center for Planetary Health in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Asia faces full force of climate crisis

Climate patterns last year helped set the stage for 2025's extreme weather.

Atmospheric levels of heat-trapping carbon dioxide jumped by the most on record in 2024. That "turbocharged" the climate, the United Nation's World Meteorological Organization says, resulting in more extreme weather.

Asia is bearing the brunt of such changes, warming nearly twice as fast as the global average. Scientists agree the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events are increasing.