Heavy flood claims the lives of Eleven

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 June 2008, 00:23 GMT]
At least eleven people have been killed and two gone missing in different parts of Sri Lanka due to floods caused by heavy rain, police said. Torrential rain has caused flooding and land slides in eight districts in southern, south-eastern, western and central provinces, displacing 150,000 people belonging to 47,000 families, according to the officials at the Disaster Management Centre in Colombo.

Most severely affected areas are Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara Districts. Several roads in these districts have become impassable due to landslides and rising water levels. The affected districts include Colombo, Ratnapura, Kalutara, Kegalle, Gampaha, Badulla and Puththa'lam.

Ratnapura was the worst hit area due to the rising water levels of Kalu Ganga river. Sri Lanka Navy boats have been deployed to evacuate the people living along the river bank, officials said.

Many areas in Kalutura district have become submerged and 65.000 people belonging to 20,000 families have been affected. Many main roads have become impassable. Meanwhile, flooding in Matale, in central province has rendered 1,300 people from 250 families, homeless.

People living in low lying areas of the Kelani Ganga, especially in the Colombo district, have been warned to move to shelters as the river is rising and may overflow if the rains continued, sources said.