People row a boat to distribute food to flood-trapped villagers on the outskirts of Colombo, Sri Lanka, on June 5, 2021. The death toll from Sri Lanka’s inclement weather conditions rose to 10 Saturday evening while 219,027 people were affected, the country’s Disaster Management Center said.
The death toll from floods and mudslides following heavy rains in Sri Lanka rose to 14 with another two missing, officials said Sunday.
Ten districts on the Indian Ocean island have been under heavy rainfall since last Thursday, including the capital Colombo and suburbs where many houses, paddy fields and roads have been inundated.
Ten people have died in floods while another four lost their lives in mudslides, according to the government’s Disaster Management Center. Among them was a family of four who died when a mound of earth crashed onto their house in Kegalle district, about 85 kilometers (53 miles) east of Colombo.
Two others remain missing.
Sri Lanka's navy said it had deployed 33 teams to flooded areas, which so far have rescued 66 people stranded by the floodwaters.
The Disaster Management Center said the extreme weather has affected some 245,000 people, and over 4,300 remain displaced in emergency shelters. More than 800 houses have been damaged.
