Heavy flooding displaces thousands in East

Over 30,000 people in eastern Sri Lanka have been displaced by flash floods following incessant rains in eastern Sri Lanka earlier this week.

The hardest hit have been thousands of Tamil people who had earlier been displaced by Sri Lankan military offensives and the Muslim community.

The eastern districts of Batticaloa and Amparai, a largely flat agricultural area which was hard hit by the 2004 tsunami, has taken the brunt of the north-east monsoon shower.

8,300 families from Chengkaladi, Kiraan in Batticaloa district and Aalayadiveampu area in Ampaarai district were forced to leave their homes and seek refuge in schools, after rising floods due to the persisting down pour of monsoon rains threatened to engulf their homes, Batticaloa Additional Government Agent K. Mahesan said.

Hundreds of families from Chengkaladi area have been located at Chengkaladi Maha Viththiyaalayam where they are being provided with food and other essentials.

In Trincomalee district, people who were already internally displaced due to Sri Lanka Army (SLA) offensives and, before that the December 2004 tsunami, and lodged in temporary shelters, are undergoing severe hardships caused by rain and floods.

Temporary structures located at Killiveddy and Iruthayapuram in Moothoor division sheltering displaced Tamil families have been inundated with flood water due to heavy rain with gale force winds in Trincomalee district since Sunday. Families are now living with great difficulties under leaking roofs without enough food and other essential needs, local sources said.

Some of the important roads connecting the east with the rest of the country have also been damaged along with around 400 acres of paddy fields by flood waters up to two feet deep.

Meteorological Department has warned that more rain is expected for another few days in the north and east due to a depression in the Indian Ocean.

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