Severe Floods and Landslides Kill 40 in Sri Lanka as Cyclone Ditwah Approaches
At least 40 people have lost their lives and 21 remain missing after relentless rains triggered floods and landslides across Sri Lanka this week, marking one of the country’s most severe weather disasters in recent years.
At least 40 people have lost their lives and 21 remain missing after relentless rains triggered floods and landslides across Sri Lanka this week, marking one of the country’s most severe weather disasters in recent years.
In the central tea-growing district of Badulla, a landslide swept over homes during the night, killing 21 residents, the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) reported.
Footage circulating online shows torrents of water tearing through towns, lifting homes from their foundations and carrying them downstream. Authorities have opened temporary shelters to accommodate displaced families.
The island now braces for worsening conditions as Cyclone Ditwah skirts the eastern coastline on Friday. What began as a deep depression has strengthened into a cyclone and is expected to make landfall in India, according to regional forecasters.
River levels across Sri Lanka continue to rise. The DMC has urged communities in low-lying zones to move to safer ground, while the Irrigation Department has issued a red-level flood warning for areas along the Kelani River valley, including parts of Colombo, over the next 48 hours.
More than 200 mm of rain is forecast in parts of the central and northern regions on Friday, the Meteorology Department said.
Major inter-provincial roads have been closed, and several train operations have been halted. The ongoing Advanced Level examinations have also been postponed.
The island is in the midst of its monsoon season, but extreme events of this scale remain uncommon.
Sri Lanka’s worst flooding this century occurred in June 2003, when 254 people were killed and hundreds of thousands were displaced.
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