At least 1,300 dead in Asian floods after heaviest rains since 2012

The toll from floods in several parts of Asia rose Tuesday to more than 1,300 dead, as governments and aid organizations in Indonesia and Sri Lanka try to provide assistance to thousands of isolated people.

Last week, torrential rains lashed Sri Lanka, parts of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, southern Thailand and northern Malaysia. In Sumatra, the death toll rose Tuesday to 631 dead and 472 missing, the disaster management agency announced.

In Sri Lanka, at least 410 people were killed and 336 are still missing, according to the latest toll released Tuesday by authorities.

In southern Thailand, floods killed 176 people, authorities said Monday, in one of the deadliest weather events in the country in a decade. Across the border in Malaysia, two people died in flooding in the state of Perlis.

"All I have left are the clothes on my back"

"The water was up to my neck," Misbahul Munir, 28, a resident of North Aceh, on the northern tip of that Indonesian island, told AFP. At his home, "the water rose to about two meters. All the furniture is ruined." "I only have the clothes I'm wearing left," she added before bursting into tears.

The waters have receded, but the devastation forced hundreds of thousands of people to take refuge in shelters, where they struggle to get water and food. For residents sheltered in shelters, "conditions are worrying. There are pregnant women and young children," he said.

In the Indonesian region of Aceh, one of the hardest hit, locals with money were stockpiling groceries.

"The road access was cut off in the most flooded areas," Erna Mardhiah, 29, who was queuing at a fuel station in Banda Aceh, told AFP. "People fear running out of fuel," added the woman, who had been waiting for two hours.

"Serious risk of food shortages and hunger"

The Indonesian government on Monday announced the shipment of 34,000 tons of rice and 6.8 million liters of cooking oil to the hardest-hit provinces of Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra.

Aid organizations said they are working around the clock to get supplies to the affected areas amid fears that local markets will run out of essential commodities. "Communities across Aceh are at serious risk of food shortages and hunger if supply lines are not restored in the next seven days," the relief group Islamic Relief warned.

In Sri Lanka, the government appealed for international aid and used military helicopters to reach people cut off by floods and landslides.

The rains stopped Monday in Colombo, the capital, and there was hope that water levels would recede. Some businesses even began to open. In Ma Oya, north of Colombo, Hasitha Wijewardena tries to clean up after the flooding. "The water has gone down but the house is full of mud," she told local media.

"The biggest and most difficult natural disaster" since the 2004 tsunami

Officials said they are still quantifying the extent of the damage in the center of the country, the worst-hit area. Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who declared a state of emergency, said this is "the biggest and most difficult natural disaster" in the country's history.

The losses and damage are the most severe in Sri Lanka since the 2004 Asian tsunami which killed some 31,000 people and left more than a million homeless.

For its part, the Thai government sent aid but the public has criticized the response to the floods. Two officials were suspended for poor handling of the emergency.

Much of Asia is currently facing its annual monsoon season, which brings heavy rains and often causes landslides and flooding.