Scientists call it “climate whiplash”, the rapid shift from one weather extreme to another, such as drought to flood or heat to cold. A recent study by the philanthropic organisation WaterAid found that around 15 per cent of cities worldwide are now experiencing this phenomenon.
Nowhere is this instability felt more sharply than in Asia. From parched plains to flooded megacities, the region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, amplifying natural hazards and exposing its deep environmental and social vulnerabilities.
From unprecedented floods to deadly heatwaves, 2025 was another year of extremes for the world’s largest and most populous continent. Climate change magnified every disaster, devastating communities, disrupting livelihoods and leaving a trail of loss across nations already on the frontline of a fast-heating planet.
A Filipino couple wed in a submerged church in Calumpit, Bulacan, in the wake of severe tropical storm Crising (known internationally as Wipha) that hit in July. Image: Noel Celis/Greenpeace
Here are some of the most severe weather disasters that defined Asia’s turbulent year.
1. Deluge in Hoi An, Vietnam
In Vietnam’s central coast, waist-deep waters swallowed the historic streets of Hoi An, turning the UNESCO-listed town into a watery maze after days of relentless rain in late October. Hoi An – known for its full moon lantern festival and moonlit boat tours – and Vietnam’s former imperial capital Hue were worst hit by the heavy downpour.
Flooding along the Hoi An’s Hoai River reportedly reached six and a half feet, inundating centuries-old wooden houses and heritage businesses. In Hue, the Perfume River rose to a 60-year high as water levels jumped 15 feet.
The deluge killed at least 35 people across four provinces and forced tens of thousands of locals and tourists to flee. The disaster also left some 16,000 homes and 5,300 hectares of crops damaged.
As boats replaced bicycles along the town’s narrow alleys in the aftermath of the overflow, residents lamented a cruel irony: a city that relied on its river for trade and tourism, now threatened by it.
Storm surges reach as high as lamp posts as super typhoon Ragasa hit Hong Kong in late September. Image: Greenpeace
2. Super typhoon Ragasa brings storm surges to Hong Kong
The world’s most powerful storm this year, super typhoon Ragasa, tore across the western Pacific in September, leaving a trail of destruction from the Philippines to China. Packing winds of 260 kilometres per hour, the Category 5 typhoon flooded districts of Hong Kong, ripped through Taiwan and battered southern China.
In Taiwan, a lake dam burst under the storm’s weight, killing at least 14 people and leaving 33 missing. In Hong Kong, Ragasa’s storm surge shattered hotel windows, submerged waterfront estates and prompted authorities to raise the city’s highest T10 typhoon signal.
Residents watched as waves and storm surges reached lamp post height along Hong Kong’s coast. As high-rise buildings swayed under the force of violent winds and torrential rain, Hong Kong residents reported feeling dizzy and dubbed the unsettling sensation “buildingsick” on social media.
Experts said Ragasa’s rapid intensification was a textbook case of how warming oceans are supercharging tropical cyclones.
A farmer rushes home on his cart as torrential rain pummels rural northern India. Image: Sachin Mittal, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Unsplash.
3. Cloudburst catastrophe in South Asia
Across India and Pakistan, sudden torrents known as cloudbursts, or rain bombs, unleashed catastrophic floods and landslides that buried entire villages this year. The phenomenon – intense rainfall exceeding 100 millimetres in an hour – has become increasingly deadly in the region’s warming climate.
In Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, more than 370 people have been killed by the extreme weather phenomenon since August, including 228 in a single district, Buner. In India’s Kashmir, at least 60 people died and over 200 went missing as floodwaters tore through Chashoti village in early August.
Rescue workers described scenes of homes flattened by boulders and torrents of mud. Scientists warn that warmer air from monsoon winds is carrying more moisture, making such rain bombs both more frequent and more intense – a deadly hallmark of the region’s new monsoon season.
4. Plastic rain in Jakarta, Indonesia
When it rains in Jakarta, it now rains plastic. A study released in October by Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) found 15 microplastic particles per square metre per day falling from the sky – a sign of just how pervasive plastic pollution has become.
Microscopic fibres from clothing, tyre dust and degraded plastic waste were found in rainwater samples, raising alarms over long-term health impacts. Health officials urged residents to “avoid walking outside after it rains” due to exposure risks.
The findings come amid worsening floods that submerged over 1,000 households in the capital earlier this year. Researchers warn that microplastic-laden rainfall could contaminate crops, waterways and even the food chain – blurring the line between climate and pollution crises.
A UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter crew drops water from a Bambi bucket to fight a wildfire in South Korea’s Gangwon province. Image: US.Indo-Pacific Command, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Flickr.
5. Wildfire outbreaks in South Korea
From late March to May, South Korea faced its deadliest wildfires in decades. Driven by dry winds and record-low rainfall, flames swept across the country’s southeast, killing 24 people and forcing 27,000 to evacuate. Among those who died was a helicopter pilot who perished in a crash during aerial firefighting.
The wildfires have also threatened UNESCO World Heritage sites, including the historic village of Hahoe in Andong and the Byeongsan Seowon Confucian Academy. Meanwhile, the 1,300-year-old Gounsa Temple in Uiseong County was largely burned to the ground, with only its ceremonial bell remaining standing.
The inferno followed an unusually warm and dry winter, and scientists say climate change has increased both the frequency and ferocity of wildfires in East Asia. Researchers report that the country is now experiencing fire seasons in places where none used to exist, as climate change has made the weather conditions that fuel the deadly wildfires about twice as likely.
6. Snowless Kashmir, India
In the Himalayas, snow failed to fall earlier this year. The ski slopes of Gulmarg in Indian-administered Kashmir, normally teeming with winter tourists, lay barren this February, forcing India to suspend its national winter games.
The dry spell, linked to rising regional temperatures, subsequently left the region’s Jhelum River running below zero gauge level and caused a 79 per cent rainfall deficit across Jammu and Kashmir. Tourism businesses reported crippling losses, and local farmers feared poor water recharge for the coming planting season.
Scientists warn that vanishing snow threatens not only winter recreation but also water security for millions who rely on glacial melt across South Asia.
Heavy snow blankets a train and platform in the resort town of Yuzawa, north of Tokyo. Image: elminium, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Flickr.
7. Longer, harsher winters in Japan
After Japan’s hottest summer on record, the country’s autumn seemed to vanish overnight. The Japan Meteorological Agency has forecast that this brief season will give way to an early winter, with unusually warm temperatures lingering through October before plunging sharply in late November.
Just months earlier, in February, northern Japan saw an abrupt cold snap bring record snowfall and freezing conditions that disrupted flights, rail services and power supplies. In Hokkaido, snowfall reached 129 centimetres (4 feet) in just 48 hours, while parts of Niigata and Gifu saw nearly a metre of snow. Described by the agency as “the strongest cold front in years,” the event left residents waking to cars buried in snowdrifts – a stark reminder of the growing climate volatility that now swings Japan between heat extremes and blizzards.
8. Heatwaves scorch Central and South Asia
Central Asia experienced a record-breaking March heatwave, with temperatures soaring 15°C above normal across Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. Scientists say human-driven climate change made the event three times more likely and about 4°C hotter.
In India, April brought consecutive days above 46°C in Rajasthan and Gujarat. The prolonged heat forced hospitals to prepare for heatstroke patients and left millions struggling to cope. The World Meteorological Organization reported that Asia is now warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, with severe implications for food and water security.
Rescue teams paddled through inundated streets in Jakarta as severe floods swept through the Indonesian capital. Image: Iqro Rinaldi, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Unsplash.
9. Deadly landslides in Indonesia
From the mines of Papua to the villages of Java, landslides and floods repeatedly struck Indonesia this year. At least 21 people were killed in Central Java in January after rivers burst their banks, while another 14 died in a West Java quarry collapse in May.
In late March, a tailings landslide at the Morowali Industrial Park in Sulawesi buried workers under toxic mine waste – the latest in a string of fatal industrial accidents linked to the country’s booming nickel sector. Environmental groups warn that extreme rainfall, combined with poor mining standards, is putting thousands of workers at risk.
10. Toxic smog in Delhi, India
The morning after Deepavali this year, India’s capital awoke to a familiar nightmare. Delhi’s air quality index surged 488 µg/m³ of PM2.5 – more than 56 times the World Health Organization’s safe limit – after fireworks blanketed the city in thick, toxic haze. This level of air pollution is considered “severe” and dangerous to breathe.
Authorities blamed both festival firecrackers and winter’s stagnant air for trapping pollutants from vehicles and agricultural fires as a dense grey haze settled over parts of the city.
For Delhi’s 20 million residents, the “festival of lights” once again ended under a blanket of smog, underscoring the region’s ongoing struggle with air pollution alongside the wider climate crisis.
This story is part of Eco-Business’ Year in Review series, which looks back at the stories that shaped the world of sustainability in 2025.
