Four dead, several missing as Sri Lanka faces massive rains, floods

Four persons including two children have died and several others remained missing while over 230 lakh individuals were affected across Sri Lanka due to inclement weather following a massive rain system in southwest Bay of Bengal authorities said on WednesdayAt least six Colombobound flights were diverted to other airports on Wednesday morning due to heavy rain ndash 75 mm in 24 hours ending at 800 am ndash and high winds experienced in most parts of the island due to the Deep Depression heavy rain bearing system over the southwest Bay of BengalThe Deep Depression is likely to move northnorthwest wards closer to the east coast of Sri Lanka and intensify further into a cyclonic storm later in the day the meteorological department saidArmy and navy troops were deployed to rescue victims and provide food and other essentials to those affectedNews portal NewsFirstlk said six flights scheduled to arrive at the Bandaranaike International Airport BIA here were diverted to other airports including to Indian airportsSri Lankan Airlines flight from Tokyo Emirates flights arriving from Male and IndiGo flight from Chennai all destined for Colombo were diverted to the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport while Air Arabia flight from Sharjah was diverted to Kozhikode International AirportSri Lankan Airlines flight from Male and Etihad Airways flight from Abu Dhabi to Colombo both were diverted to Mattala International Airport NewsFirstlk saidMeanwhile police said bodies of two of the six students who were swept away in raging floods on Tuesday in the eastern Ampara district were found while efforts were on to trace others continued on WednesdayThe six students between 1216 years and the tractor operator were on their way back from school at Sammanthurai in the Ampara district when the farm tractor trolley they were travelling on was swept by the massive floods following the heavy rains in the area Five other children and the tractor driver were rescued police addedAhead of the forecast of the Deep Depression intensifying into a cyclonic storm the island nation has been experiencing heavy downpours since Monday leaving large area inundated ndash flooded homes fields and roads everythingTrain services were suspended in the mountain areasThe Disaster Management Centre DMC said reported the floods have resulted in two more fatalities elsewhere while seven persons are reported missing in different parts of the country Among the two deceased was a woman who was killed when a brick wall collapsed on her in Badulla in central Sri Lanka but gave no details about the other personThe DMC also that the prevailing inclement weather conditions have affected a total of 230743 individuals across Sri Lanka while more than 10000 individuals from 3102 families are currently being sheltered in 104 relief centres news portal Adaderanalk saidThe National Building Research Institute NBRI has issued landslide warnings covering four of the nine provincesldquoThe rainfall within the past 24 hours has exceeded 75 mm If the rain continues there is a possibility of landslides and slope failuresrdquo a release from the NBRI saidThe Irrigation Department too has issued flood warning for several lowlying areas of Kelani River Basin and Kala Oya Basin effective until Friday morning Adaderanalk saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever