When Cyclone Ditwah battered Sri Lanka in late November 2025, it unleashed chaos - more than 3,000 landslides and rapid floods swamped 20 out of 25 districts, from tea-covered highlands to lowland rivers. 

In recent days, intense monsoon rains and a series of powerful storms have caused widespread flooding and landslides across Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Malaysia. Rivers have burst their banks, entire neighbourhoods have been destroyed, and families have had to flee at short notice as water levels rose rapidly. Tragically, more than 1,400 people have lost their lives, with many still unaccounted for and millions affected across the region.

Over recent months, relentless monsoon rains and glacial floods have devastated Pakistan, claiming almost 1000 lives and forcing tens of thousands from their homes.

October 2024 was the third time Sandra Williams' house in South Dunedin had been flooded, but last time she’d been more mobile and able to take care of herself.

Mark Wills was in Dunedin for a couple of hours with his two children to meet friends when the road closed behind them and left them stranded.