Bangkok
—
Wassana Sooty tried to keep her nursing home open last week as floodwaters surged around her in the southern Thai city of Hat Yai, cutting off outside aid aside from a single helicopter dropping supplies onto the roof.
Hat Yai city is one of hundreds of communities reeling from a combination of cyclonic storms and monsoon rains that have caused deadly floods and landslides from Indonesia to Sri Lanka.
At least 1,250 deaths have been reported across the region, according to a CNN tally of national disaster authorities. Hundreds of people are still missing and more than a million people have been evacuated.
Officials say the death toll could rise as rescue teams dig through mud and rubble and struggle to reconnect communities torn apart by destruction.
8-foot-high floodwaters flooded the streets of Hat Yai, a major transportation and trade hub in Thailand’s Songkhla province. The deluge forced Sooty, her husband, 10 staff members and patients, some bedridden, indoors and feared the worst.
“It rained so much that I couldn’t come out of the house,” Sooty said.
First, rain flooded the first floor, forcing Sooty and her husband to move panicked residents upstairs. Floodwaters then cut off the main power supply, forcing her to switch to batteries to run the remaining oxygen tanks she had left behind.
Like others in Hat Yai, Sooty and her staff worked for days by candlelight, trying to keep things running.
Thai military helicopters dropped food onto the roofs from above, loaded with threatening supplies. This was the only point of contact with outsiders during the flood ordeal.
When the water finally receded over the weekend, the roads were sticky with mud and littered with debris.
“When I saw people lining up on the streets for food, some looking for their missing relatives, there were cars abandoned on the streets. It was like a scene from an apocalypse movie,” Sooty said.
While she and her staff are busy cleaning up the debris, there’s one big worry.
“I’m more concerned about liquid food for patients now. We have to feed patients through the nose, so it’s very difficult to find patients (a source of fluids) in my area right now.”
Most of the 181 deaths Thailand reported from flooding occurred in Songkhla province, Hat Yai.
Severe impacts from the rain have also been reported in Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia.
In Indonesia, 686 people have died and 476 are missing after Cyclone Senyar caused devastating landslides and flooding on the island of Sumatra, known for its lush rainforest, active volcanoes and population of endangered orangutans.
On the other side of the Indian Ocean, about 1,000 miles away, the island of Sri Lanka is reeling from another cyclone, Ditwa, which brought the country’s worst flooding in a decade, Reuters reported.
According to the country’s disaster management center, 410 people have died and 336 people are missing on the island, which is famous for its beaches and popular with foreign tourists.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs said on Monday that military helicopters and warships had been sent from neighboring India to support rescue efforts and distribute humanitarian supplies.
According to the statement, the air force rescued nationals from Sri Lanka, India, Germany, Slovenia, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Poland, Belarus, Iran, Australia, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
India’s arch-rival Pakistan also sent a team from its military to assist in rescue operations in Sri Lanka, according to the Islamabad National Disaster Management Authority.
Sooty returned to Thailand and cleaned up, thinking about how bad the rains would be next season.
“The situation has never been this serious. But this year everyone says the same thing: It was like a tsunami.”
CNN’s Sophia Saifi in Islamabad and Isha Mitra in New Delhi contributed reporting.
