Over 90 dead, 100 missing as Cyclonic Storm “Ditwah” heads further north

The Cyclonic Storm “Ditwah” moved further north from Trincomalee today evening leaving a trail of destruction including more than 90 deaths,  over 100 missing and  tens of thousands displaced, officials said.

Fifty of the deaths have been reported in the Kandy district, according to the District Secretary Indika Udawatta while another 67 have been reported missing in the district.

The death toll was likely to be higher as some of those reported missing are feared to have been killed.

Most of the other deaths have been reported in the Badulla district where 35 have been reported dead and 27 missing, according to Badulla District Secretary P.S.P. Abeywardena.

Meanwhile several rescue operations have been launched to rescue persons trapped in different locations.  Among the persons trapped are a group of passengers who were trapped in a bus on Kala oya and later transferred to roof of a building and another 28 trapped in a farm in Nikaweratiya.

Several attempts to rescue those trapped in Kala Oya and Nikaweratiya had failed.

However, 20 prison inmates and officers trapped in floods in Dehiattakandiya were rescued.

The Air Force also carried out several other rescue operation and airlifted some of those trapped.

The water levels of the Kelani river was also rising and is expected to cause a flood situation in the Kolonnawa, Gampaha and Wattala areas later in the day.

The Disaster Management Centre has been appealing for people to vacate their homes to safe areas.

Some of the areas had received over 500 mm  of rain in 24 hours in Matale while other areas had received about 200 to 300 mm of rain. 

However, the District Management Centre in its report released at 6.00 P.m. today said that the death was 69 and 34 were missing.

The DMC claimed that in the Kandy district only four deaths have been reported and 19 were missing while in the Badulla district the DMC said there were only 30 deaths and four were missing.