Six killed In Sri Lanka Flood Disaster

The Sri Lankan Disaster Management Centre(DMC) has disclosed that the death toll in the country’s adverse weather conditions rose to six on Thursday while over 8,000 people were affected.

Some of the districts which were inundated after hours of rains were Nuwera Eliya, in the central highlands, Puttalam and Kurunegala in the north western province and Gampaha in the outskirts of capital Colombo.

A landslide alert was also issued for Kegalle, located 78 kilometers from Colombo, Kurunegala and Ratnapura, located in south central Sri Lanka.

The DMC has urged people residing in landslide-prone areas to relocate to safer areas if rains continue.

Till Thursday morning, over 1,600 people were relocated to safer shelters and rescuers were on standby for further emergency evacuations if flood waters continued to rise.

The Meteorology Department, in its latest weather update, warned of further rains and strong winds in the coming days with about 75 mm expected in Western, Sabaragamuwa and Uva provinces while misty conditions could be expected in Eastern, Uva and North-Central provinces.

Naval and fishing communities along coastal areas have also been warned of not going out to the sea.