At least one person has died, and eight others, including six children, are missing after heavy rains caused widespread flooding in eastern Sri Lanka. The children were traveling home from school on a tractor when it was swept away by the floods. The bodies of three children were recovered on Wednesday. At the time of the accident, 11 children were on the tractor; five were initially rescued. Another three children and two adults, including the driver, remain unaccounted for.
Sri Lanka has been battered by heavy rains and strong winds over the past two days, inundating homes, fields and roads. The rains that began on Monday caused severe devastation. Army and navy troops have been deployed to rescue victims and provide food and other essentials to those affected.
Separately, a woman died in the mountainous region of Badulla in central Sri Lanka when a brick wall collapsed on her, while another person died in the floods. As of Wednesday, over 3,000 people had been moved to evacuation centers and nearly 600 homes were reported damaged.
In just 24 hours, heavy rains amounting to 75 mm were recorded on Wednesday morning, accompanied by high winds across most parts of the island. These conditions were caused by a deep depression (a heavy rain-bearing system) over the southwest Bay of Bengal. The meteorological department reported that the system is likely to move north-northwest toward Sri Lanka’s east coast and intensify into a cyclonic storm later in the day.
Sri Lanka has been grappling with severe weather since May, primarily due to heavy monsoon rains. In June, 16 people died in floods and mudslides.