Torrential rains in Sri Lanka kill 11
Baku, February 7 (AZERTAC). Heavy monsoon rains on Wednesday kept Sri Lanka`s president from visiting areas inundated by flooding that has killed 11 people, forced 196,000 from their homes across a third of the nation, and threatened food supply.
Nearly a fifth of Sri Lanka`s rice paddies are either destroyed or under standing water that could wipe out the crop, the Agriculture Ministry said, raising concerns over supply shocks and higher food inflation for Sri Lanka`s staple food.
Greater-than-normal monsoon rains since early January have hit the Indian Ocean island in the Northern, Eastern, Central and North Central provinces, building up to cause mudslides, swamp roads and burst hundreds of dams and reservoirs. Sri Lanka`s Disaster Management Centre said that at least 18 people had been killed across the country, with a landslide in the hilly Kandy area killing at least seven people.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa Rajapaksa deployed the military to rescue people by helicopter and boat, and assist in relief efforts, the Defence Ministry said. He too had planned to distribute aid. "His plan was to go all over the place, but he couldn`t make it because of the bad weather," presidential spokesman Bandula Jayasekara said.
Rajapaksa had to abandon his helicopter trip after visiting the ancient Sri Lankan capital of Polonnaruwa, a popular tourist destination, in the North Central Province.
Other news in this section
