Southeast Asia floods: More than 250 deaths reported

Bangkok: The number of deaths caused by flooding in Southeast Asia has risen to more than 250, with more deaths reported in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Days of torrential rain led to flooding in nine Thai provinces and eight states in neighboring Malaysia, displacing tens of thousands of people.

Similar scenes are playing out in Indonesia's Sumatra island, where rescue teams are battling to reach affected areas in 12 cities and districts.

The annual monsoon season has been exacerbated by a tropical storm in the region in recent days.

Thailand death toll rises
In southern Thailand, the death toll rose sharply with authorities saying Friday that the number of dead now stood at 145,.

Floods have submerged large areas and forced residents to seek shelter on higher ground and rooftops.

"We will now move into the rehabilitation phase and work to restore cities to normal as quickly as possible," the AFP news agency quoted Paradorn Prissananantakul, the director of the flood relief operations center, as saying.

The hardest-hit has been Songkhla province, where authorities at the Songklanagarind Hospital said there was no more room for bodies and that refrigerated trucks were now being used.

"The morgue has exceeded its capacity, so we need more," AFP quoted a morgue official as saying.

An AFP journalist filmed white refrigerated lorries parked outside the hospital's main building.  

Indonesia's Sumatra island among the worst hit
In Indonesia, officials said flooding and landslides in three provinces claimed the lives of more than 80 people, with dozens still missing on Sumatra.

The worst losses have occurred in North Sumatra, where 55 deaths were reported and 41 people are still missing, according to the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB).

The Central Tapanuli district suffered the heaviest toll with 34 deaths, while 33 people there have not been found. 

Meanwhile, in West Sumatra, 21 people were confirmed dead following flash floods in a number of areas, the BNPB said.

Search and rescue teams have been battling to reach isolated communities where debris has caused roads to become blocked.

The Reuters news agency reported that residents in Batang Toru — where at least 21 people died — had to bury some victims in a mass grave.