Floods and landslides caused by torrential rains that have continued over the past week have left the death toll in places including Indonesia, Thailand, and Sri Lanka nearing 1,000.

AFP reported that Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency said that in three provinces in the northern part of Sumatra Island that recently saw heavy rains, as of the 30th of last month (local time), 442 people had died and 402 were missing. The death toll, which had been 303 as of the previous afternoon, rose by nearly 100 as rescue operations continued. As of that day, the number of injured stood at 646. North Sumatra Province suffered the heaviest damage from the floods and landslides, with many deaths also in West Sumatra and Aceh. Across the three provinces, about 297,000 people lost their homes to the floods, and some have taken refuge in temporary shelters. In three villages in the Agam area of West Sumatra, 80 people were buried and remain missing.

In Aceh, where some roads and bridges have been cut off, rescuers are struggling because they cannot deploy the heavy equipment needed for recovery work. AP reported that soldiers and police officers are digging through debris with shovels and pickaxes amid pouring rain.

Some residents on Sumatra broke into shops to steal food and water. Indonesian authorities dispatched naval vessels from the capital, Jakarta, to deliver relief supplies to some of the affected areas.

Indonesia, which consists of about 17,000 islands, usually has a rainy season from October through April of the following year, and floods and landslides occur frequently during this period.

Flooding also hit southern Thailand, which saw record rainfall in 300 years, leaving 170 dead across eight provinces. In particular, Songkhla Province in the south near Malaysia accounted for 131 of the deaths. Water levels are now receding, but some areas remain inundated, and recovery is expected to take time. Thai authorities said power supplies had been restored to roughly 80% of all flood-affected areas. Rescue teams are clearing debris in submerged areas, removing damaged vehicles, and continuing to search for the missing.

Reuters reported that an estimated roughly 1.1 million people in Indonesia and roughly 3 million in Thailand were affected by the floods and landslides.

In Sri Lanka, an island nation in South Asia, recent floods and landslides left 334 dead and at least 370 missing as of 6 p.m. that day, Xinhua reported, citing Sri Lankan authorities. The disaster affected a total of 309,000 households and more than 1.1 million people. Sri Lankan authorities declared a state of emergency the previous day and appealed to the international community for assistance.

Across Southeast Asia, loss of life from floods and landslides caused by frequent torrential rains has continued. Under the influence of an unusual tropical storm that formed in the Strait of Malacca, heavy rains pounded Indonesia, Thailand, and other areas over the past week. Meteorological experts assess that, due to climate change, typhoons and tropical storms have become more frequent and more intense, increasing the damage.