COLOMBO: Heavy rains triggered fresh landslide warnings in Sri Lanka’s worst-affected central hills on Friday (Dec 5), as the death toll from last week’s Cyclone Ditwah jumped to 607.
The National Building Research Organisation (NBRO), which monitors the stability of mountain slopes, said heavy rainfall could further saturate the hills and make them unstable.
“Since rainfall within the past 24 hours has exceeded 150mm, if the rains continue, evacuate to a safe location to avoid the risk of landslides,” the NBRO said in a statement.
The latest deluge was brought on by the onset of the monsoon rains, although some of the earlier flooding that began last week has started to subside.
The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said 607 people had been confirmed dead, with many of those previously unaccounted for now presumed killed in the devastating mudslides.
The number of missing was revised down from 341 to 214, while the number of people affected rose to just over 2 million.
The number of people in state-run refugee camps fell further to 150,000 from a peak of 225,000 as floodwaters receded in and around the capital Colombo.
Record rainfall triggered the floods and deadly landslides, which President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has described as the most challenging natural disaster in the history of the island.
Source: CNA
