Soldiers in Sri Lanka were rushing to rescue hundreds of people trapped by rising floodwaters on Friday, as the weather-related death toll rose to 69, with another 34 people declared missing.
Helicopters and navy boats carried out rescue operations, evacuating people from tree stands, rooftops and villages cut off by flood waters.
The Disaster Management Center (DMC) said the death toll rose with the recovery of more bodies in the worst-hit central region, where most of the victims were buried alive in landslides this week.
The DMC said it was raining across the island and some areas had received 360 mm rainfall in the last 24 hours. The Kelani River, which flows into the Indian Ocean near the capital Colombo, overflowed its banks on Friday.
VSA Ratnayake, 56, said he had to leave his home in Kaduwela near Colombo due to floods. “I think this could be the worst flooding in our region in three decades,” Ratnayake said. “I remember the floods of the 1990s when my house was submerged in 7 feet of water.”
Kalyani, 48, of Kaduwela, said she was providing shelter to two families whose houses were flooded.
At least 3,000 houses were damaged in landslides and floods and more than 18,000 people were moved to temporary shelters. In Anuradhapura district in the north, a Bell 212 helicopter airlifted a man who had climbed a coconut tree to escape rising waters.
More rain is expected, the DMC said, with Cyclone Ditvaha likely to move from north to the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu by Sunday.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed condolences over the loss of life and property in Sri Lanka and said Delhi was providing aid to the affected areas. “We are ready to provide more assistance as the situation evolves,” Modi said at the summit.
DMC officials said they expected the level of flooding to be worse than 2016, when 71 people died across the country. Dozens of stranded tourists from the tea-growing central regions were airlifted to Colombo on Friday.
Sirasa TV network broadcast a desperate woman’s plea for help. “We are six people, including a one-and-a-half-year-old child. If the water rises five more stairs, we will have no place to go,” he said over the telephone.
DMC said that north-east monsoon season is going on in Sri Lanka, but due to Cyclone Ditvaha the rains have intensified.
Sri Lanka depends on seasonal monsoon rains for irrigation and hydropower, but experts have warned that the climate crisis is threatening the country with frequent floods.
The weather-related deaths this week are the highest since June last year, when 26 people died during heavy rains. In December, 17 people died due to floods and landslides.
The worst floods in Sri Lanka since the turn of the century occurred in June 2003, when 254 people died.
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