Troops in Sri Lanka rushes were made to rescue hundreds of people stranded by flooding on Friday as the number of weather-related deaths rose to 69 and a further 34 people were reported missing.
Helicopters and military boats carried out rescue operations, plucking people from treetops, rooftops and villages cut off by floodwaters.
The Disaster Management Center (DMC) said the death toll had risen as more bodies were discovered in the worst-hit central region, where most victims were buried alive in landslides this week.
It rained across the island, with some regions receiving 360mm of rainfall in the last 24 hours, according to the DMC. The Kelani River, which flows into the Indian Ocean near the capital Colombo, overflowed its banks on Friday.
56-year-old V.S.A. Ratnayake said he had to flee his flooded home in Kaduwela, near Colombo. “I think this could be the worst flooding in our area in three decades,” Ratnayake said. “I remember a flood in the 1990s when my house was under 7 feet of water.”
Kalyani, 48, also from Kaduwela, said she was sheltering two families whose houses were flooded.
At least 3,000 homes were damaged by landslides and floods, and more than 18,000 people were relocated to temporary shelters. In the northern Anuradhapura district, a Bell 212 helicopter airlifted a man who had climbed a coconut tree to escape rising water.
The DMC said more rain is forecast and Cyclone Dithwa is likely to move from the north towards the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu by Sunday.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed condolences over the deaths in Sri Lanka and said Delhi was rushing aid to the affected areas. “We are ready to provide more help and assistance as the situation evolves,” Modi said on X.
DMC officials said they expect flood levels to be worse than in 2016, when 71 people died across the country. Dozens of stranded tourists were evacuated to Colombo from the central tea-growing regions on Friday.
The Sirasa TV channel broadcast a call for help from a desperate woman. “There are six of us, including a one-and-a-half-year-old child. If the water rises another five steps on the stairs, we will have nowhere to go,” she said by phone.
It is the northeast monsoon season in Sri Lanka, but rainfall has increased due to Cyclone Dithwa, the DMC said.
Sri Lanka depends on monsoon rains for irrigation and hydroelectric power, but experts warn the country faces more frequent flooding due to the climate crisis.
This week's weather-related death toll is the highest since June last year, when heavy rains killed 26 people. In December, floods and landslides killed 17 people.
The worst flood Sri Lanka has experienced since the beginning of the century occurred in June 2003, when 254 people died.
