COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lankan authorities have shuttered all government institutions and educational facilities nationwide following catastrophic monsoon conditions that have claimed 56 lives and damaged over 600 residences. The Indian Ocean nation continues to battle the most severe weather system to hit its territory this season, with conditions dramatically intensifying Thursday amid torrential rainfall that submerged entire communities, agricultural lands, and transportation networks while triggering multiple fatal landslides.
The most devastating incidents occurred in the central highland regions of Badulla and Nuwara Eliya, renowned for their tea plantations, where collapsing mountainsides buried communities under tons of earth and debris. Official reports from the Disaster Management Center confirm at least 25 fatalities in these districts alone, with 21 individuals remaining unaccounted for and 14 hospitalized with injuries.
Transport infrastructure has suffered critical damage nationwide as overflowing reservoirs and river systems inundated roadways and railway tracks. Transportation authorities have suspended all passenger rail services and implemented widespread road closures after mudslides, rockfalls, and fallen trees rendered key transit routes impassable.
Rescue operations have intensified with all branches of the military deploying emergency response teams. Aerial footage captured by local media showed Air Force helicopters executing precision rescues of civilians stranded on rooftops amidst raging floodwaters. Naval and police personnel have deployed amphibious vehicles and boats to evacuate residents from submerged neighborhoods. In one tragic incident near Ampara, surveillance cameras recorded a vehicle being swept away by violent currents, resulting in three fatalities.
The meteorological department has issued continued alerts for additional precipitation, with emergency response teams remaining on highest alert across all affected provinces.