Michael Sullivan

For NPR News, I'm Michael Sullivan in Chiang Rai, Thailand.

The more towns and villages the authorities in Sumatra reach, the higher the death toll climbs.

Three provinces have been hardest hit by the flooding triggered by the latest tropical storm this week, cutting off roads, damaging bridges, and downing communications links.

Relief teams are using helicopters and fixed-winged aircraft to deliver aid where possible to areas inaccessible by road.

Hundreds of people remain missing, with nearly a quarter million displaced.

In Thailand, the Ministry of Public Health says deaths related to flooding there have reached 170.

Tropical storms have killed nearly 1,000 people in the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia this month.

For NPR News, I'm Michael Sullivan in Chiang Rai, Thailand.

November's been a bad month weather-wise for Southeast Asia, with typhoons and tropical storms battering the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia, leaving nearly a thousand people dead.

Relief teams in Indonesia are using helicopters and fixed-winged aircraft to reach areas hard hit by this week's storm.

Many areas remain inaccessible by vehicles due to downed bridges and damaged roads.

Another storm is moving into the region this week.

Rescue workers are still trying to reach some of the hardest-hit areas on the island of Sumatra, with damaged roads, bridges, and downed communications lines hindering those efforts, as is a lack of heavy equipment.

Relief aircraft have started to deliver aid to some of the worst-hit areas.

The governor of northern Sumatra's Aceh province, devastated by the 2004 tsunami that leveled many cities and towns, has declared a state of emergency.

and the head of the National Disaster Management Agency is warning he believes many more bodies have yet to be reached.

Heavy rainfall caused by tropical storms has struck much of Southeast Asia, including the Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand, in the past few weeks.

For NPR News, I'm Michael Sullivan in Chiang Rai, Thailand.

Southern Thailand, the park closest to neighboring Malaysia, has borne the brunt of this week's flooding, with Songkla Province recording the most deaths so far, at least 110.

Seven other provinces make up the remainder, and the death toll is likely to rise, authorities say, as floodwaters recede and rescuers gain access to more areas.