HEAVY RAINS IN SRI LANKA KILL AT LEAST SIX

By Walter Jayawardhana

Heavy torrential rains which came with the beginning of South Western monsoon killed at least six people in Sri Lanka including a woman who fell Into a manhole in a flooded street in Colombo.

The woman who did not see the open man hole due to a flooded street at Wijerama Mawatha fell through it and swept into an underground canal , reports from Colombo said. Another woman at Slave island fell into a pit of water in a flooded street. When she was holding on to a damaged electric pole she was electrocuted to death.

Another two people died in a landslide near the port city of Galle in at Nagoda in Southern Province.

Colombo streets were heavily flooded making traffic congestions all over the city. Heavy gales caused giant Vesak Pandals, to collapse at Pettah ,Borella and Grand Pass.

The National Disaster management center announced that six people have died and 869 others have been displaced due to the heavy rains. It also said the death toll could be higher since they heard three more unconfirmed deaths.