Over 800,000 hit in Sri Lankan floods

By R. K. Radhakrishnan | The Hindu
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Over 800,000 people have been affected in Sri Lanka as the monsoon fury worsened, leading to breaching of tanks, landslips and flooding.

The numbers affected could be higher since statistics are not available from at least four of the affected districts.

Assistant Director of the National Disaster Management Centre Pradeep Kodippili said the number of people affected island-wide was 819,759 (215,986 families). Sunday's rainfall of 300 mm in a day in Battocaloa is the highest in recent memory.

As many as 482,830 persons belonging to 127,980 families in the Batticaloa District and 306,998 persons belonging to 80,410 families in the Ampara District have been affected by the floods, the worst affected two districts in the island.

The entire arc spanning from Trincomallee in the north to Ampara in the south — covering 10 districts — have been affected. Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Amaraweera put the losses due to the rain at LKR 30 billion.

In Anuradhapura district, one town — Horowpathana — was under water and the Tikkampatna dam had breached. Many roads in the hilly Kandy and Nuuwara Eliya have been rendered useless because of landslips.

Transportation by road and rail have come to a standstill in most of the affected districts.

More than 36,000 persons living in camps for the internally displaced in Batticaloa are among the affected.

Over 6300 IDPs in Polonnaruwa also have been affected by the floods.

Moved to safety

The Air Force rescued 24 persons from Batticaloa since Sunday evening. It said its Bell 212 helicopter transported a pregnant lady from Valaichchenai to Polonnaruwa Hospital.

Another helicopter carried out a ration drop at Thoppigala on Monday morning, providing relief aid to flood victims.

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