The death toll from floods and landslides triggered by Cyclone Ditwah rose sharply to 334 on Sunday, Sri Lanka’s disaster agency said on Sunday, with many more still missing.
It is the worst natural disaster to hit the island in two decades, and officials said the extent of the damage in the worst-hit central area was only being revealed as aid workers cleared roads blocked by fallen trees and mudslides.
The Disaster Management Center (DMC) said the death toll had risen to 334, up from 212 earlier on Sunday, with nearly 400 missing and more than 1.3 million people affected by record rains across the island.
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President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who declared a state of emergency to deal with the disaster, vowed to rebuild with international support.
“We are facing the largest and most challenging natural disaster in our history,” he said in a speech to the nation. “We will surely build a better nation than what existed before.”
The loss and damage is the worst since the devastating Asian tsunami in 2004, which killed around 31,000 people and left more than a million homeless.
The rain has stopped in Sri Lanka, but low-lying areas of the capital were flooded on Sunday and authorities were preparing for a major rescue operation.
A Bell 212 helicopter carrying food for patients stranded at a hospital north of Colombo crashed into a river on Sunday evening. All five crew members were taken to a nearby hospital.
Another helicopter dispatched from India on Sunday rescued 24 people, including a pregnant woman and a man in a wheelchair, stranded in the central town of Kotmale, about 90 kilometers northeast of Colombo, officials said.
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Pakistan has also sent rescue teams, the Sri Lankan air force said, while Japan will also send a team to assess Sri Lanka’s immediate needs and has pledged assistance.
The air force said two infants and a 10-year-old child were also rescued from a hospital in the northern city of Chilaw that was submerged on Saturday.
Authorities said flooding in the capital would take at least a day to recede, and dry weather was also forecast. Cyclone Ditwah moved north towards India on Saturday.
Completely flooded
Selvi, 46, a resident of the Columbian suburb of Wennawatte, left her flooded home on Sunday carrying four bags of clothes and valuables.
“My house is completely flooded. I don’t know where to go, but I hope there is some safe shelter where I can take my family,” she told AFP.
Falling water levels in the town of Manampitiya, 250 kilometers (155 miles) northeast of Colombo, revealed massive destruction.
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“Manampitiya is a flood-prone town, but I have never seen this volume of water,” said 72-year-old resident S. Sivanandan.
He told the local News Center portal that businesses and property were extensively damaged. A car overturned in front of his store, he said.
A woman in downtown Wellaway said she heard a loud noise and went outside to see boulders rolling down the mountainside before stopping near her home.
“I saw trees falling and boulders moving. We are afraid to return to our homes,” she told reporters after moving to a shelter on safer ground.
Deadliest in recent years
The National Blood Transfusion Service said supplies were short, although there were relatively few injuries.
The National Building Research Organization, which monitors hill stability, said there was a high risk of further landslides as the mountain slopes were still saturated with rainwater.
The worst floods since the turn of the century occurred in June 2003, when 254 people died.
Key things
- Cyclone Ditwah caused the worst natural disaster to hit Sri Lanka in two decades.
- The Disaster Management Center (DMC) said the death toll had risen to 334.
- The loss and damage is the worst since the devastating Asian tsunami in 2004, which killed around 31,000 people and left more than a million homeless.
