Cyclone Ditwah struck on Friday, bringing strong winds and heavy rains that caused the worst floods in Sri Lanka in a decade and triggered landslides in the central hilly region.
People salvaged belongings from flooded homes along the Kelani River near Colombo, the capital, according to Reuters visuals.
Rescuers in Sri Lanka were working on Monday to clear roads and deliver aid to more than half a million people affected by a cyclone last week, as official figures showed 355 people dead and 366 missing.
Train and flight services have resumed after disruptions, though schools remain closed. Weather authorities said, “It (the storm) is very likely to move northwards, away from the island, and weaken further.”
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said on Sunday that it was the first time the entire country had been hit by such a natural disaster and called it the “largest and most challenging” in Sri Lanka’s history.
The cyclone also brought heavy rain to India’s southern state of Tamil Nadu over the weekend, where three people died in rain-related incidents, K.K.S.S.R. Ramachandran, the state’s disaster management minister, said on Sunday. The storm, located 50 km (30 miles) off the coast of Chennai, the state capital, has weakened into a “deep depression” and is expected to weaken further over the next 12 hours, officials added.
(Reuter)
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