The death toll from devastating floods and landslides in Southeast Asia climbed past 400 on Saturday as clean-up and search-and-rescue operations got underway in Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia.
Rescuers in Indonesia were struggling to reach the worst-affected areas of Sumatra island, where more than 270 people were still missing.
Flooding and landslides in Indonesia have killed more than 300 people, according to the latest figures from the disaster authority on Saturday.
Of those, 166 were in North Sumatra province, 90 were in West Sumatra, and 47 were in Aceh.
Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated, although access to many parts of those three provinces remains cut off, National Disaster agency head Suharyanto said.
He told a news conference that a cloud seeding operation had begun in West Sumatra to reduce the rainfall, most of which had already subsided by Saturday.
Thailand clean-up
Water levels reached three metres in Songkhla province in southern Thailand and killed 162 people in one of the worst floods in a decade.
Workers at one hospital in hard-hit Hat Yai moved bodies into refrigerated trucks after the morgue exceeded capacity.
Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul apologised for the destruction caused by the floods.
"Whenever there are losses, deaths, or injuries, it's always the prime minister's fault," he said on Saturday.
"I will use all my expertise and dedication to improve the situation," he said, announcing a two-week timeframe for the district's cleanup.
The Thai government rolled out relief measures for those affected by the flooding, including compensation of up to two million baht (AUD$95,000) for households that lost family members.
Severe flooding has affected thousands of people in northern Malaysia's Perlis state. Source: AFP / Mohd Rasfan
An MP from the opposition People's Party criticised the administration, saying it "wrongly estimated the situation" and made "errors in handling the flood crisis".
The annual monsoon season, typically between June and September, often brings heavy rain, triggering landslides and flash floods.
A tropical storm has exacerbated conditions, and the tolls in Indonesia and Thailand rank among the highest in floods in those countries in recent years.
Climate change has affected storm patterns, including the duration and intensity of the season, leading to heavier rainfall, flash flooding and stronger wind gusts.
"Since I was a child until now at 30 years old, this is the worst flood that has ever occurred in our village," said Novia, a resident of Pidie in Aceh.
"There were floods before... but it wasn't like this."
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