Warmer seas and heavier rains linked to climate change, along with Indonesia and Sri Lanka's unique geographies and vulnerabilities, combined to produce deadly flooding that killed hundreds, scientists said Thursday.

Two tropical storms dumped massive amounts of rain on the countries last month, prompting landslides and flooding that killed more than 600 people in Sri Lanka and nearly 1,000 in Indonesia.

A rapid analysis of the two weather systems carried out by an international group of scientists found a confluence of factors drove the disaster.

They include heavier rainfall and warmer seas linked to climate change, as well as weather patterns such as La Nina and the Indian Ocean Dipole.

The research could not quantify the precise influence of climate change because models do not ful

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