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Hundreds of small boats navigated deep floodwaters that have inundated thousands of homes in the Sri Lankan capital to deliver aid and rescue the elderly and sick from rooftops, as forecasters warned of more heavy rain.
The heavily-indebted Government of President Maithripala Sirisena and Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe have been struggling to deliver aid to the most vulnerable.
More than 400,000 are affected, officials have told local media.
Some stranded residents wading through shoulder-deep water in Colombo waved frantically at a passing army boat for help, pleading to be taken to dry ground.
“We have only the clothing that we are wearing,” said Eranda Dias, a 27-year-old mechanic who escaped with his mother and wife as brackish water filled their home in the city’s outskirts.
“We did not know what to do,” he said as soldiers pulled him up into the boat, explaining that the water had been a half-meter high most of the week and then suddenly rose. His mother, a retired teacher, worried about how she would receive her monthly pension now that her documents were lost.
The weeklong rains have caused chaos across Sri Lanka, unleashing deadly landslides and driving tens of thousands from their homes.
Since Monday, at least 64 people have died from lightning strikes, drowning, falling trees and landslides triggered by the rains, officials said. That includes at least 31 victims of mudslides that swallowed up three hillside villages in the central district of Kegalle, where hundreds were still missing.
Courtesy of thestandard.com.hk
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