Flood-hit Asia regions saw highest November rains since 2012: AFP analysis

Some flood-hit regions of Southeast Asia experienced their heaviest November rains since 2012, according to an AFP analysis, as climate change intensifies seasonal weather patterns. 

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. 

The death toll in Indonesia rose to 712 on Tuesday, with more than 500 people missing and 1.1 million people evacuated, mostly in Aceh province in northern Sumatra and around Padang in western Sumatra.

Environmentalists, experts, and even the Indonesian government have highlighted the role of deforestation in causing flash floods and landslides in a country that had already lost at least 38 people in severe weather events earlier last month on the island of Java.

In southeastern Thailand, November rainfall totals exceeded 1.5 meters in some areas, according to data combining station readings, satellite observations, and weather models.

In Vietnam, floods in mid-November killed at least 90 people in a single week, mainly in the mountainous province of Dak Lak (central Vietnam).

This region broke its overall record for November rainfall in 2025, as did the border areas of Laos and Cambodia.

Typhoon Kalmaegi also hit Vietnam earlier this month, killing at least five people after leaving more than 230 dead in the Philippines.

The Philippines was hit by Typhoon Fung-wong the following week, which left some 30 dead in the northern part of the archipelago, where rainfall records were also broken.

© Agence France-Presse