Rescuers reach flood survivors

The floods still show no sign of subsiding

Relief teams are working to evacuate thousands of people stranded after severe flooding in southern Sri Lanka.

At least 200 people are feared dead and many hundreds more are missing in the area's worst floods for more than 50 years.

At least 150,000 families have been displaced, the Red Cross says, and the number of casualties is expected to rise.

The flood waters have however begun to recede.

A BBC correspondent says rescue workers are trying to move villagers to relief camps set up on dry land.

People have left their homes and are just living outside

Chandra Ranawickrama
Sri Lankan Red Cross

Sri Lankan air force personnel have dropped water bottles and food packets over those villages that cannot be reached by boat because of strong currents.

Health officials in the worst-hit area, Ratnapura, are increasingly concerned about the lack of clean drinking water.

Police in the district say there is a continuing danger of landslides and people displaced by the flooding are being evacuated to nearby schools and temples.

Supplies low

The worst-hit area so far comprises 300 villages in Ratnapura, 100 kilometres (60 miles) south-east of the capital, Colombo.

"Many [people] were asleep when they were hit," said Malini Premaratnethe, the chief administrator of Ratnapura.

"Fallen trees and blocked roads are making it extremely difficult to reach remote areas," she said.

Many of those killed are thought to have been buried alive in mudslides.

The BBC's Frances Harrison, who has been to the region, says people who can have been travelling by boat to buy food.

They say they are surviving on dry bread, and drinking water is running short.

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe has called for the country to unite to help cope with the disaster.

He said Norway had given $1m in aid. The Indian navy has also sent a ship carrying inflatable boats and rescue equipment.

Cleaning up

The Red Cross has appealed for help from abroad and inside the country saying the floods have destroyed houses, blocked roads and submerged power lines.

The Sri Lankan army has evacuated some residents

Chandra Ranawickrama from the Sri Lankan Red Cross says providing food is one of the main problems.

"The basic thing is that people have left their homes and are just living outside," he told the BBC.

There has also been a request for disaster management experts to help with the clean-up once the immediate crisis has abated.

It is thought landslides may have blocked one of the rivers in the area, exacerbating severe flooding outside the town.

Are you in Sri Lanka? Are the floods in your area?

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Here in Colombo, the rain has been torrential, off and on, for a few days but we're high and dry. But I'm really concerned for the people I know in the flood-ridden areas. Its hard to believe the reported fatalities are relatively small in number, given that so many people populate even the smallest of villages, many of which are now under mud and water. I've worked in many of the areas now affected, Tangalle, Beliatte, Thawalama, Ingiriya, Bulathsinhala. There are many many people in these places who have been so friendly and kind to me, my hope is that they are safe and that my contribution of dry rations and clothing, can in some small measure, return their kindness in their time of great need.
Janette Smith, Sri Lanka

People have been caught illegally cutting tress but after interventions by the politicians these people are released

Sujith Jayawardhane, Sri Lanka

This is the worst ever flooding in my lifetime. I believe that the main reason for many deaths is that the governments who had come to power in the past has failed to see the future and progress. Many times people have been caught illegally cutting tress but after interventions by the politicians these people are released. I have been informed by my relations in Galle and Matara that it is very difficult to get to the affected areas because of the currents. I have information that so much damage had been done to the southern province because a previous government had done a project and changed the path of a river without taking into notice the upper streams. These areas are presently filled with water upto 15 feet. In some affected areas there has been no electricity for the past 96 hours. However lets hope that at least now a reasonable study will be done for the cause and necessary preventive measures will be taken to avoid this type of unnecessary deaths. Our thoughts are with the families who have lost their loved ones.
Sujith Jayawardhane, Sri Lanka

I was sadden by the event taking place in Sri Lanka where the thousands of innocent civilian population has been going through a real hardship due to the terrible flood situation in central part of Sri Lanka. I am hoping and praying the mother nature will spare these people life and hardship as soon as possible. I wish I am in Sri Lanka to help these people. I am a British citizen of Sri Lankan Tamil origin working in Malaysia. All Sri Lankans who are living abroad must help our people to overcome this problem.
Alan Elangovan, Malaysia

I talked one of my uncle. he lives Ratnapura. He told me that is the terrible flood. Now his family displaced to Moratuwa because one of my other uncle lives there.
Anonymous

Thank you to the rescue teams

Niraj, UK/Sri Lanka

I want to say how sorry I am about the loss of life that occurred due to these floods. I also wish to say thank you to the rescue teams, especially to the Air Force helicopter crews, who worked tirelessly to save hundreds of stranded people, and are still delivering food aid and other essential items to thousands more.
Niraj, UK/Sri Lanka

This part of the country is prone to severe land slides and floods during monsoon rains. The people in Ratnapura district are experiencing this misery since many many years and if nothing had been done to alleviate the cause of floods, in the future, our nation could mourn on devastations and loss of lives which could be heavier than this . It's almost time to leave our political and social differences to allocate resources and find the alternatives to protect innocent lives from this kind of disasters. It is government's responsibility to stop unauthorized excavations and mining in this area. Should government not take necessary actions to curb offenders, innocent people in this area will have to pay the price from their lives in many more monsoon rains to come.
Bandula S.Kariyakarawana, College of Staten Island , New York , U.S.A

The forest cover that was cleared by the colonial rulers in the 19th and early 20th century to make way for tea plantations is the root cause for the mudslides that plague this region of the country. In addition to that, there is too much illegal mining (for precious stones) that takes place in that part of the country, which gets "un-noticed" for reasons we are too familiar with. Think it's time someone took action to help solve the problem of flash floods once and for all.
Sanjaya B, Sri Lanka/US

I disagree with Sanjaya B's point of blaming colonial rulers. Sri Lanka has had 50years of independence, and it should have planted trees if it saw this problem. The problem is the felling of trees to find land and housing to support a population that has ballooned to almost 20million. Short sited political agendas have meant that politicians have been giving away state land to villagers to win votes.
Raja Kaluperuma, Sri Lanka

The rains have been horrendous. We have had very big storms for over a week. We are told the water in a friend's house in Matara was last evening ten feet high and eighteen feet was expected. Rumours of twenty eight feet of water are in Tangalla. Our electricity has been fitful but the authorities are doing the best they can under the circumstances.
Hazel and Graham Gallagher, Sri Lanka