Asia Floods: Death Toll Tops 1,160 as Troops Aid Survivors in Sri Lanka and Indonesia

The toll in deadly flooding and landslides across parts of Asia climbed past 1,160 on Monday as hardest-hit Sri Lanka and Indonesia deployed military personnel to help survivors. Separate weather systems brought torrential, extended rainfall to the island of Sri Lanka and large parts of Indonesia’s Sumatra, southern Thailand, and northern Malaysia last week. Much of the region is currently in its monsoon season, but climate change is producing more extreme rain events and turbocharging storms. The World Health Organization announced the deployment of rapid response teams and critical supplies to the region. The UN agency’s chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was ‘another reminder of how climate change is driving more frequent and more extreme weather events, with disastrous effects’. The relentless rains left residents clinging to rooftops awaiting rescue by boat or helicopter and cut off entire villages from assistance.