Thailand: Flood-hit communities across Thailand and Indonesia are struggling to survive as heavy rain, landslides, and overflowing rivers leave entire towns cut off, homes underwater, and families desperately waiting for help.
At least 55 people have died in southern Thailand after a week of relentless rain triggered the country’s worst flooding in years. In neighbouring Indonesia, the toll from a tropical cyclone sweeping across Sumatra has climbed to 61, with dozens still missing.
Thailand Battles Its Worst Floods
Nine southern provinces in Thailand remain submerged, with nearly 3 million people affected. In Hat Yai, the worst-hit city, floodwaters have begun to ease, but huge areas remain inaccessible. Boats, trucks, and even an aircraft carrier have been deployed as rescuers race to reach stranded residents.
Helicopters were seen dropping food packages to people trapped on rooftops, while drones were prepared to deliver medical supplies to areas still cut off. Streets in Hat Yai turned into rivers, with abandoned cars lying half-submerged and people wading through muddy brown water to find food or check on relatives.
“Efforts to assist the public are continuing, but the flooding situation will be a long fight,” government spokesperson Siripong Angkasakulkiat said.
Cyclone Devastates Indonesia’s Sumatra
Across the Malacca Strait, Indonesia’s island of Sumatra is battling widespread devastation after a tropical cyclone sent torrents of water crashing through villages. Landslides buried homes, bridges collapsed and roads cracked open, making rescue operations dangerously slow.
Images showed houses buried under thick mud and cars stacked on top of each other after being swept away. Fast-moving water more than a metre high forced families to escape on rubber boats as rescuers battled through nonstop rain. More than 100 people are still missing, and power outages have left entire districts in darkness.
Meteorologists say the chaos may be linked to the interaction of two active systems, Typhoon Koto near the Philippines and Cyclone Senyar in the Malacca Strait, combined with increasingly warm seas that strengthen storms. The region has already endured a season of heavy monsoon rains and deadly typhoons, leaving many communities on the brink.
Malaysia Also Hit Hard
Malaysia is facing similar conditions, with flooding in seven states killing two people and forcing more than 34,000 into shelters. Authorities have issued warnings of more heavy rain and strong winds in the coming days.
Some Malaysians stranded in Thailand were brought home in container trucks because smaller vehicles could not pass floodwaters. Others waited in evacuation centres, sharing stories of rising waters that turned their neighbourhoods into lakes.
Thailand has deployed thousands of soldiers, engineers, and civil defence workers to the south. In Hat Yai, a basketball arena has been turned into a large shelter. Many evacuees arrived with nothing but clothes soaked in floodwater. As floodwaters slowly recede in some areas and rise in others, the scale of damage across Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia is only beginning to emerge.
