COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- Torrential rains pounded Sri Lanka, where widespread flooding and landslides have killed at least 18 people and affected about 1 million others, officials said.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa was forced to cut short his tour of the flood-hit areas because of the rains, while his government urged the public to donate items including drinking water, mattresses, bed sheets and dry rations, the Hindustan Times reported.
The government said the worst-affected areas include Batticaloa, Ampara, Trincomalee, Polonnaruwa, Nuwara Eliya, Moneragala, Kandy, Badulla and Kegalle districts.
Flooded roads and heavy rains were hindering efforts by U.N. agencies from assessing the damage, Colombo Page reported Thursday. It said meteorologists have forecast more heavy rains and strong winds in the already ravaged eastern, north central and central provinces. Some of those areas also were placed under landslide warnings.
Health officials said children younger than 5 years old and mothers pregnant for more than 36 weeks would be admitted to state hospitals in flood affected areas immediately as a precaution.
Hindustan Times reported more than a third of the country's rice output comes from the flood-hit regions. About 40,000 acres of rice fields have already been damaged.
A BBC report quoted people in some remote areas as saying they have not received any aid from agencies or the government and some of the affected people in makeshift camps were going without food. The government said an air force transport plane from neighboring India plans to send relief materials to the flooded areas.
The Sri Lankan government has deployed security forces to conduct relief operations in some of those areas and has deployed naval forces to transport cooked meals to areas where roads are submerged under water. UPI
