Torrential rains have caused floods and landslides in some regions of southern Asia to claim lives of approximately 600 individuals.
Some of the most terrible flooding experienced in the region in the past years due to monsoon rains which were magnified by tropical storms has seen millions of people impacted in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Sri Lanka.
On Wednesday, heavy downpour in the Indonesian Island of Sumatra commenced. Everything was lost during the flood, a resident of Bireuen in the Aceh province in Sumatra told the Reuters news agency. I would save my clothes, I would save my house went down.
The number of those who died could only increase with hundreds still missing. There are thousands of people who are stuck and some others are hanging on rooftops awaiting rescue.
By Saturday over 300 were killed in Indonesia and 160 in Thailand. In Malaysia also a number of deaths were reported.
In Sri Lanka, which has been struck by Cyclone Ditwah, over 130 have been killed and others 170 were missing, according to the authorities.
Cyclone Senyar, an exceptionally rare tropical cyclone, has led to very severe landslides and floods in Indonesia, leaving homes swept off and thousands of buildings being submerged.
Saying that an almost 300 individuals remained unaccounted following the economic destruction of Sumatra by floods, Indonesia disaster agency reported on Saturday.
The speed was tremendous, in just a few seconds it came to the streets, inside the houses, a resident of Aceh Province, Arini Amalia, told the BBC.
She and her grandmother ran to the house of one of her relatives in higher ground. When she came back the next day to collect some of her belongings, she replied that the flood had totally engulfed the house: it was all sunk.
Meri Osman was swept away on the current after the West Sumatra waters suddenly increased, and after his home was submerged.
The unfavorable weather has disrupted rescue missions with tens of thousands of people having been evacuated but hundreds are left behind, the Indonesian disaster agency said.
The waters in the Songkhla province in the south of Thailand had gone up to 3m (10ft) and no less than 145 were killed during one of the most severe floods in a decade.
The government reported over 160 people killed in the 10 provinces that have been affected by the floods on Saturday. Over 3.8 million individuals have been impacted.
On the 15 th July, 2010, 335mm of rain fell on the city of Hat Yai, the highest rainfall in 300 years. When the water went down, the government noted an increased number of deaths in a steep manner.
The employees at one of the hospitals in Hat Yai had to carry the bodies to refrigerated trucks as the morgue was overfilled, according to news agency AFP.
Hat Yai resident Thanita Khiawhom told BBC Thai that they had been stuck in the water seven days and the agencies did not come to their rescue.
Government has offered relief policies in which the families who lost their family members would be compensated up to two million baht (62,000).
The fatalities are very minimal in neighbouring Malaysia but the damage is equally ruinous.
Flooding has also caused havoc and left sections of the state of Perlis north under water, causing deaths of two people and tens of thousands displaced into shelters.
Another current issue that Sri Lanka is struggling with is one of the worst weather disasters this country has experienced in the recent years, and the government has proclaimed the state of emergency.
Officials declared that more than 15,000 houses have been demolished and about 78000 individuals displaced into temporary shelters. They have further added that a third of the nation lacked power or running water.
The meteorologists have claimed that the unusual weather experienced in South East Asia could have been occasioned by the climate of Typhoon Koto in Philippines and the unusual occurrence of Cyclone Senyar in the Malacca Strait.
Monsoon seasons of the area (usually June-September in the year) are usually accompanied by massive rainfall.
The changes in climate have brought about a shift in storm patterns such as intensity and length of the season, thus leading to the increased rainfall, flash floods and high winds.
‘Once in 300 years’ rain hits Thai city as floods ravage South East Asia
Some sections of Thailand are also fighting with all time high floods which claimed 33 lives and pushed the government to use military ships and helicopters to help in providing relief.
Rains have devastated 10 provinces in the south of the country in the last one week, and the city of Hat Yai, a business city bordering Malaysia, experienced the worst rainfalls in its 300-year history, 335mm in one day.
There are photos of vehicles and houses in the city which are flooded and desperate people are on their roof waiting to be rescued.
There are also unending rains that have devastated neighbouring nations. Vietnam has taken the lives of 98 people in a week, and over 19,000 people have been displaced in Malaysia.
The Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency estimated 19 people were killed and at least seven others were still buried under landslides in North Sumatra.
The flood has hit more than 2 million people in Thailand with only 13,000 taking shelter.
According to the news agency Reuters, the percentage of the enormous number cut off and inaccessible to help is enormous.
Thai military that has been tasked to address the crisis indicated that it is ready to send an aircraft carrier, a fleet of 14 boats loaded with relief and field kitchens that are claimed capable of providing 3,000 meals a day.
The navy said that medical teams on the aircraft carrier would turn it into a floating hospital in the event of need.
The governor of Songkhla province which is home to Hat Yai has said that boats, high-clearance trucks, and jet skis have been dispatched to ferry residents.
On Tuesday, the cabinet announced Songkhla as a disaster zone, which liberated money to be used in assistance.
Nevertheless, there are a great number of individuals who are stuck in the ensuing floods.
The Matchima Rescue Center was a volunteer rescue team that informed Reuters that it received thousands of calls within the past three days and people would request to be evacuated.
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