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View all search resultsDeath toll from Sumatra floods and landslides passes 700
The agency in a press conference late on Tuesday said 708 people had been killed since last week, a figure lower than the 753 reported on its website earlier in the day. It did not give a reason for the discrepancy.
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People wade through the floodwater in the aftermath of flash floods at Tukka village, Central Tapanuli, North Sumatra, on December 2, 2025. The death toll from floods and landslides that have struck Indonesia's Sumatra island since last week has risen to 712, the National Disaster Management Agency said on December 2. (AFP/YT Hariono)
T
he number of people killed by floods and landslides in Sumatra rose to 708 on Tuesday, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency said, as authorities rushed to repair infrastructure and deliver aid to cut-off areas.
The agency in a press conference late on Tuesday said 708 people had been killed since last week, a figure lower than the 753 reported on its website earlier in the day. It did not give a reason for the discrepancy.
Close to 900 people have been killed in floods and landslides that have wreaked havoc in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, which follow months of adverse and deadly weather in Southeast Asia, including successive typhoons that struck the Philippines and Vietnam and added to frequent and prolonged flooding elsewhere.
Environmental experts and local officials have said deforestation on Sumatra has led to a disproportionately deadly toll
The disaster agency said teams were prioritising distributing aid via land, sea and air, clearing blocked roads and repairing damaged infrastructure.
"We do hope that we can speed up the logistics distribution," spokesperson Abdul Muhari said.
Large areas of Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Myanmar, as well as parts of Cambodia and Laos, recorded rainfall totals not seen in the month of November for more than a decade, according to monthly US data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Almost all of Sri Lanka also experienced record rainfall.
Heavy rains are common during the monsoon season, but tropical storms, made more frequent and intense by climate change, have seen some areas experience monthly rainfall levels up to one metre above the November 1991-2020 average.
Cyclone Ditwah brought torrential rains to Sri Lanka in recent days, triggering floods and landslides that buried entire villages.
A total of 410 people have died and 336 are missing, according to a report released by the Sri Lankan Disaster Management Agency on Tuesday, while 1.5 million residents have been affected.
Meanwhile, an exceptional storm raged across the Bay of Bengal, causing at least 176 deaths in southern Thailand and two in northern Malaysia.
