Devastating Malé floods cause MVR 2.2m in damage

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has stated that the damage to residential homes in the congested capital Malé City due to flooding caused by heavy rainfall across the country on 3 January 2025 reached MVR 2.2 million.

NDMA made this statement while revealing the latest updates regarding the rainstorm that battered the Maldives on January 3.

According to NDMA, the damage to residential areas in the atolls amounts to MVR 800,000.

From 12am Friday to 12am Saturday, 161.9 millimeters of rainfall was experienced. NDMA has stated that this is a record amount of rainfall for Malé City within a 24-hour period. In addition to this, from 3pm to 6pm on Friday, 109.8 millimeters of rainfall was experienced in the capital city within three hours. NDMA said this is a record for such heavy rainfall in Malé within a three-hour period.

In response to the devastating floods in Malé, NDMA supplied 20,000 sacks to the Malé City Council for sandbagging efforts. According to NDMA, 740 locations including homes, businesses, schools and warehouses reported needing assistance during the storm.

Further, 53 homes reported to NDMA that they faced obstacles in cooking, eating, sleeping, and other essential needs that night. Subsequently, after conducting rapid assessments of the homes, NDMA has provided temporary shelter and food to 226 people from 27 households whose normal living conditions were disrupted. In addition to this, NDMA has so far conducted assessments of 115 homes that suffered various degrees of damage to household items and buildings due to the flooding.

NDMA said that during the rainstorm on January 3, two islands in outlying atolls reported tidal wave surges; Inguraidhoo island in Raa atoll and Narudhoo island in Shaviyani atoll. Eight islands reported flooding. Of these, 73 homes from four islands submitted reports of multiple degrees of damage to the authority.

NDMA said that MVR 61,500 was spent on the flooding operation. The authority has stated that MVR 200,000 worth of relief aid in the form of temporary shelter and food has been provided to those affected.

The authority said that this is the largest operation conducted so far in response to heavy rainfall in the capital Malé City. NDMA also stated that this is the incident that caused the most damage and required the most people to be relocated to safe locations.

The authority has also stated that during the continuous rainfall and flooding in its wake, humanitarian assistance was provided to affected homes in Malé as well as outlying atolls. Friday’s downpour caused flooding in parts of the capital city, with water entering homes and shops. Some shops in many areas of Malé in particular were flooded, causing extensive damage to their goods.

Maldives experiences heavy rain showers and adverse weather conditions during the southwest monsoon as well as the northeast monsoon. Extensive periods of strong winds and adverse weather conditions are usually experienced mostly during the southwest monsoon.

Such adverse weather conditions have caused trees to uproot, roofs to be torn off, and heavy debris falling onto houses, causing immense damage. The squally weather during monsoon also causes extensive damage to crop in some islands and presents challenges for seafarers and fishermen as well. Some islands have been experiencing swell wave surges during high tides as well.

The Maldives Meteorological Service (MMS) announced the commencement of the northeast monsoon for “2024” on January 3. The northeast monsoon typically begins to show its effects in the northern and central atolls during the second or third week of December, and by January, it spreads across the entire country. The northeast monsoon for 2024 began in the Maldives on 2 January 2025.