Satellite imagery shows devastating impact of record rainfall in Asia

Over three days, Sri Lanka was inundated by 20 inches of rain — a deluge the country’s statistics department says is equivalent to the average rainfall for all of October and November combined.

Nearly 15,000 homes were destroyed, with around 400 people still missing, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Scientists say the damage illustrates how climate change is exacerbating extreme weather worldwide, particularly in tropical Asia, where rainy seasons are becoming longer and more intense.

“There’s really no point denying that climate change is with us now,” said Benjamin Horton, dean of the School of Energy and Environment at City University of Hong Kong.

“This time next year, when you’ve got the monsoon and if we’re still in La Niña, it’s going to be even worse,” he said, referring to the seasonal climate pattern that brings wetter weather to Southeast Asia.

Across the Malacca Strait in Thailand, where almost 200 people have been killed, military ships were deployed to support relief efforts as the record floods hammered the country’s south.

Entire alleys turned into rivers in Thailand, with rescuers seen riding in boats searching for survivors. Cars were washed away and rammed against houses in the southern Thai city of Songkhla as water slowly receded from the streets.

The city of Hat Yai, a Thai trading hub popular with Malaysian tourists that received 13 inches of rain, was among the worst-hit areas.

Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul on Saturday acknowledged the government’s shortcomings in flood management and announced compensation for those affected.

Further south, Indonesia was hit the hardest with more than 700 deaths as of Tuesday.

Satellite imagery showed that a section of the Peusangan River in the northern province of Aceh had doubled in width, submerging its banks particularly around a small dam. At least two homes were washed away in the swell, the debris of which was still visible, while a third house was also damaged. Roads leading up to the buildings and paved roads were wiped out from the flooding.