Nearly 1 million people affected in Sri Lanka floods

Stormy weather forced President Mahinda Rajapaksa to cut short his tour of flood-affected areas on Wednesday as torrential rain continued to play havoc in parts of Sri Lanka, killed 18 people and affecting at least 960000 more. The Disaster management Centre said that 180,151 people were living in
453 centres for the displaced set up in affected districts.

The government has appealed to the public to donate essentials including dry rations, mattresses, bed sheets and drinking water.

R.M.S. Bandara of the National Building Research Organisation (NBRO) told reporters that landslide warnings were issued in 10 districts including Matale, Badulla and Kandy.

The eastern Batticaloa, Ampara and Trincomalee Srilankan districts and the districts of Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Badulla, Moneragala and Kegalle have been severely affected due the torrential rain experienced for the last two weeks. The worst affected is the Batticaloa district where the government has deployed the air force and navy to drop and reach food and rescue stranded residents.

What is worse is that the livelihood of the victims is likely to be affected with more than one third of the country's paddy productions coming from the flooded districts.

About 40000 acres of paddy cultivation has already been damaged.

The government with the assistance of Food and Agricultural Organisation and World Food Program will make arrangements to help the affected farmers to re cultivate the paddy lands once the flood recedes.

Because of incessant rain drinking water ponds have also been contaminated.

In cities like Colombo, prices of vegetables have shot up because of supply shortage.

P.B. Samarasinghe, Director General of the Meteorological Department said that rains are expected for the next three days while this was the heaviest rains that the country had witnessed in over thirty years. Colombo too has seen an unusually pleasant January with maximum temperatures falling below normal.

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