Alert as 360,000 Sri Lankans flee floodwaters

FLOODS that have ravaged the east of Sri Lanka for days have washed away rice paddies and hampered food distribution, officials said yesterday.

Days of heavy rain have swamped Eastern Province, affecting more than a million people and forcing 360,000 from their homes. The government has estimated the damage at 320 million.

The Disaster Management Centre said 27 people have died in the floods and mudslides, including four yesterday. Twelve more are missing. Thirty per cent of the farm land in the rice-growing region, which supplies food for much of the rest of the country, is submerged, the agriculture ministry said. Many fields were ready for harvesting, and the traditional harvest festival of ethnic Tamils was scheduled to take place today.

Some villages are marooned, with little or no food aid coming in. In the eastern Batticaloa district, 300 families have been living on corn and yams, said Velayutham Thevanayagam, a village official.

Concerns about the spread of disease, including typhoid, are also growing as sewage contaminates wells. Medical help has been sent to affected areas, with pregnant women and young children warned to avoid polluted water.