Floods in Southeast Asia kill 321 people

Large parts of the territories of three Southeast Asian countries have been suffering from cyclone-induced downpours for a week, and a rare tropical storm has formed in the Strait of Malacca.

On the hard-hit Indonesian island of Sumatra, 174 people were confirmed dead on Friday, the head of Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency, Suharyanto, told a press briefing.

He added that although the rains had stopped, 79 people were still missing and thousands of families had been displaced.

The Thai government said 145 people had died in floods in eight southern provinces, with officials estimating that more than 3.5 million people nationwide have been affected.

The rain finally stopped on Friday in the southern city of Hat Yai, the hardest-hit part of Thailand, but residents are still ankle-deep in floodwaters, mostly without electricity, assessing the damage to their properties over the past week.

In neighboring Malaysia, where two people were confirmed dead, Tropical Storm Senyar made landfall around midnight and has since weakened, but weather services are still bracing for heavy rain and winds and warning that rough seas could pose a danger to small boats.

Malaysia's Foreign Ministry said on Friday that it had already evacuated 1,459 Malaysian citizens stranded in hotels in Thailand due to flooding, and the agency would work to rescue the remaining 300 people still in flood zones.