Death toll in Sri Lanka floods rises to 13

COLOMBO - The death toll in flooding in northeastern and northcentral Sri Lanka rose to 13 as the number of displaced surged to 800,000, the Disaster Management Centre said Saturday.

Heavy rains had been falling for five days in the region, which was also hit by floods a month ago.

By Friday, five people were reported dead and five were missing. On Saturday police said the missing had been confirmed dead and three more deaths were reported.

Anuradhapura, a popular tourist destination with Buddhist shrines located 180 km northeast of Colombo, was declared unsafe for visitors while several roads were inundated in other areas.

“We have situations where people who were displaced in last month’s floods have been displaced again,” said Chandana Piyadasa, a government official in the northeastern district of Trincomalee.

Fortythree people were killed in January’s floods and more than one million displaced.

Some of the flood-affected areas were places where the government was carrying out rehabilitation work after the end of its successful military operations against separatist Tamils rebels 18 months ago.