JAKARTA/BANGKOK ¨C The death toll mounted to over 500 from floods and landslides caused by torrential rains across three countries in Southeast Asia, officials said on Sunday, as relief efforts for tens of thousands of displaced people continued over the weekend.
Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand faced large-scale devastation after a rare tropical storm formed in the Malacca Strait fueling heavy rains and wind gusts for a week. There were 336 dead in Indonesia, 170 in Thailand and two deaths reported in Malaysia.
Rescue and relief officials in the Southeast Asian countries were still trying to get access to many flood-hit areas on Sunday even as flood waters receded and tens of thousands people were evacuated across the three countries. Over 4 million people have been affected ¡ª nearly 3 million in southern Thailand and 1.1 million in western Indonesia, according to official statistics.
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