COLOMBO — At least 193 people have been killed in Sri Lanka after severe floods and mudslides swept across the island nation, marking one of its worst weather disasters in years, according to the Disaster Management Centre.
More than 200 people remain missing, while over 20,000 homes have been destroyed. The crisis has forced 108,000 people into temporary state-run shelters.
Officials say about one-third of the country is without electricity or running water following the impact of Cyclone Ditwah, which brushed the island’s eastern coast on Friday.
Evacuation orders remain in place as water levels in the Kelani River continue to rise rapidly.
Kandy and Badulla districts have reported the highest number of fatalities, with many villages completely cut off due to landslides.
“We lost two people in our village… others are sheltering in a temple and a house that is still standing,” Saman Kumara of Maspanna village in Badulla told the News Center website by phone.
“We can’t leave the village, and no one can come in because all roads are blocked. There is no food, and we are running out of clean water.”
Police said 11 residents of an elderly care home drowned when floodwaters engulfed the facility in Kurunegala. Meanwhile, 69 people were rescued after their bus became submerged in Anuradhapura.
“We were very lucky… while we were on the roof, part of it collapsed… three women fell into the water, but they were helped back onto the roof,” one survivor, WM Shantha, told AFP after the 24-hour rescue effort.
The government has issued an appeal for international assistance and called on Sri Lankans abroad to donate to relief efforts.
The country, currently in its monsoon season, rarely sees extreme weather of this scale. Sri Lanka’s deadliest flooding this century occurred in 2003, when 254 people were killed and hundreds of thousands displaced.
The disaster comes as Southeast Asia faces widespread flooding linked to monsoons and tropical storms, with millions affected across Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. — Agencies
