Adverse weather killed five people, injured 10 in Sri Lanka

By Bimbo Ogunnaike with agency report

At least no fewer than five people were killed and 10 others injured after strong winds and heavy rains lashed out across Sri Lanka over the weekend.

The  country’s Disaster Management Center (DMC)  which confirmed the incident Monday, said the deaths were reported from the Nuwera Eliya district in the central highlands, one of the worst affected by the adverse weather conditions.

Overall 5,600 people were also affected by the rains and winds, while over 500 people were relocated to safer locations.

Some 26 houses were fully damaged while 671 were partially damaged.

The DMC said the armed forces were on standby for possible flood situations if heavy rains continue within the next 24 hours.

The Meteorology Department said in its latest weather update that more rains were expected in the coming days as heavy falls were expected over many parts of the island.

“Fairly heavy falls about 75 millimeters can be expected at some places in Western, Sabaragamuwa and North-western provinces,” the Meteorology Department said.

Misty conditions can be expected at some places in Sabaragamuwa, Central, Uva and North Central provinces during the morning. General public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damages caused by temporary localized strong winds and lightning during thundershowers,” the department added.