The death toll from floods and landslides caused by torrential rains across three countries in Southeast Asia, climbed past 500, officials said today, as relief efforts for tens of thousands of displaced people continued over the weekend. 336 were reported dead in Indonesia, 170 in Thailand, and two in Malaysia.
Rescue and relief officials in these Southeast Asian countries were still trying to get access to many floodhit areas today. Over 4 million people have been affected – nearly 3 million in southern Thailand and 1.1 million in western Indonesia, according to official statistics. Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand faced large-scale devastation after a rare tropical storm formed in the Malacca Strait fuelling heavy rains and wind gusts for a week.