COLOMBO, Jun 6 (NNN-XINHUA) – The death toll from Sri Lanka’s inclement weather conditions rose to 10 last night, 219,027 people were affected, the country’s Disaster Management Centre, said.
According to the latest official statistics, eight districts had been severely affected by days of heavy rains and strong winds, while 15,499 people had been evacuated to safer locations.
The Navy said yesterday that, navy teams, which had been deployed for emergency rescue operations, had rescued 29 people trapped by floods, in the Puttalam District in north-western Sri Lanka.
According to the Navy media unit, the 29 people, including women and children, were from 10 families. They were trapped by rising flood waters in their areas and had sent out a distress call.
A landslide warning also had been issued for some districts.
Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa, instructed officials to provide immediate relief for all affected by the weather conditions, while the Irrigation Department issued a flood warning.
The Meteorology Department, in the latest weather report said that, heavy falls of 150 mm could be expected over the weekend and the public were urged to be cautious especially from heavy lightning.
The department further said, wind speeds were expected to increase up to 50 to 55 km per hour in northern, north central and north western provinces.– NNN-XINHUA
