Sri Lanka’s cyclone death toll climbs to 355, with 366 missing
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COLOMBO – Rescuers in Sri Lanka were scrambling on Dec 1 to clear roads and deliver aid to more than half a million people hit by a cyclone last week, as the death toll climbed to 355, with 366 missing, official figures showed.
Cyclone Ditwah, packing strong winds and heavy rain, brought the island nation’s worst floods in a decade
People salvaged belongings from flooded homes along the banks of the Kelani river near Colombo, the capital, Reuters visuals showed.
Officials said train and flight services resumed after being disrupted last week, although schools stayed closed.
In a statement, the weather authorities said: “It (the storm) is very likely to move northwards, away from the island, and weaken further.”
It was the first time the entire country had been struck by such a natural disaster, Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said on Nov 30, which he called the “largest and most challenging” in Sri Lanka’s history.
The cyclone also brought heavy rain to India’s southern state of Tamil Nadu over the weekend, where three people were killed in rain-related incidents, Mr K.K.S.S.R. Ramachandran, the state’s minister for disaster management, said on Nov 30.
The storm, 50km off the coast of Chennai, the state capital, has already weakened into a “deep depression” and is expected to weaken further over the next 12 hours, weather officials said on Dec 1. REUTERS
