Asia Hit by Cyclones and Extreme Rainfall, UN Warns

Across the world, more incidents of extreme weather events are being recorded.

Across Southeast Asia, record-breaking rains and flooding caused by back-to-back tropical storms have claimed hundreds of lives and displaced entire communities, UN agencies said on Tuesday.

Clare Nullis, spokesperson for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), told reporters in Geneva that Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Viet Nam are among the countries most affected by a “combination of monsoon-related rainfall and tropical cyclone activity.”

“Asia is very vulnerable to floods,” Nullis said, noting that flooding consistently tops the list of climate hazards in the region, according to WMO’s annual State of the Climate reports.

She added that tropical cyclones like Senyar, which last week caused torrential rainfall, widespread flooding, and landslides across northern Sumatra in Indonesia, peninsular Malaysia, and southern Thailand, are rare so close to the Equator. “The impacts are magnified because local communities have little experience in dealing with this,” she stressed.

Hundreds killed

Indonesian National Disaster Office data cited by the WMO indicate 604 fatalities, 464 missing, and 2,600 injured. Around 1.5 million people have been affected, and over 570,000 displaced.

In Viet Nam, Nullis said the country has been “battered for weeks” and is bracing for more heavy rainfall. “Exceptional rains in the past weeks have flooded historic sites, tourist resorts, and caused massive damage,” she said.

Record rainfall

In late October, a meteorological station in central Viet Nam recorded 1,739 millimetres of rain in 24 hours, which Nullis described as “really enormous” — the second-highest known total globally for a single day.

Humanitarian crisis

Ricardo Pires, UNICEF spokesperson, described a “fast-moving humanitarian emergency” in Sri Lanka after Cyclone Ditwah hit the east coast, affecting 1.4 million people, including 275,000 children. “With roads blocked and communications down, the true number of affected children is likely higher,” he warned.

Pires said families are sheltering in unsafe and overcrowded conditions, while damaged water systems increase disease risks. “Needs far outweigh available resources,” he stressed, appealing for urgent humanitarian aid.

Rising risks

WMO’s Nullis explained that rising temperatures “increase the potential risk of more extreme rainfall because a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture. We are seeing more extreme rainfall and will continue to do so in the future.”