Southeast Asia reels from deadly storm

Rescue teams continued to dig through mud, debris and isolated villages as the death toll from floods and landslides across parts of Southeast Asia climbed toward 800, with more than 600 fatalities confirmed in Indonesia alone. The rare tropical storm that battered Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand for a week left whole neighborhoods flattened, roads and bridges severed, and communities cut off, forcing relief deliveries by air in many areas.

Indonesia’s hardest-hit provinces — North Sumatra, West Sumatra and Aceh — saw entire rows of houses collapse and streets choked with uprooted trees and household wreckage. In Palembayan, residents and rescuers hauled bodies across rural land littered with debris, while in one devastated village a man pointed to the ruins of what had been multiple family homes and a mosque, saying 10 of 12 occupants survived but two died and several relatives were incapacitated by illness. Officials reported about 464 people missing and thousands unaccounted for amid ongoing search operations.

Indonesia’s disaster agency said more than 28,000 homes had been damaged and 1.5 million people affected; another government update put displaced numbers far higher, with over 570,000 people uprooted and tens of thousands sheltering in evacuation centers. In neighboring Malaysia some 11,600 people remained in temporary centers as authorities warned of the risk of additional flooding waves. Thailand also reported significant damage and displacement from the same storm system.

National and military rescue teams, supported by aircraft, worked continuously to extract survivors, deliver emergency aid and restore critical services. Restoration efforts prioritized roads, bridges and telecommunications to reopen access to isolated communities. The humanitarian scale of the disaster has prompted urgent appeals for aid and raised international concern.

Leaders visited the affected areas to assess the damage; Indonesia’s president praised the resilience of residents confronting what he described as a catastrophe. The regional calamity follows months of severe weather across Southeast Asia, including recent typhoons in the Philippines and Vietnam, and comes amid scientific warnings that climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events.