Sri Lanka floods kill two, 600,000 homeless

Agence France-Presse
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Two children were buried alive in mudslides on Sunday in Sri Lanka where more than 600,000 people have been driven out of their homes by floods, officials said.

A six-year-old boy and a nine-year-old girl were killed in separate incidents in the district of Badulla.

Heavy rains have caused flooding in the island's central and eastern regions where more than 600,000 people were estimated to have moved to temporary shelters after their homes were flooded.

Sri Lanka depends on monsoon rains for irrigation and power generation but the seasonal downpours frequently cause deaths and damage to property in low-lying areas.

The island's two main monsoon seasons run from May to September and December to February.

© AFP