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Red alert has been issued for some coastal Indian states powerful cyclone ditvaha, In which 123 people died and at least 130 people went missing. Sri Lanka,
Cyclone Ditvaha formed off the east coast of Sri Lanka and caused massive destruction on the South Asian island nation on Wednesday. It was converted into a cyclonic storm by India The Meteorological Department on Thursday…
Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake declared a nationwide state of emergency after the cyclone left a trail of destruction across the island.
The regulation was made public on Saturday to allow rapid mobilization of the army, police and health services to provide relief and rescue operations.
Sri Lanka’s Disaster Management Center said about 44,000 people have been displaced and are in temporary shelters.
Center for Disaster Management (DCM) Director General Sampath Kotuwegoda said they have launched relief operations for thousands of people who were shifted to state-run welfare centers after a week of rains triggered floods and landslides.
“Relief operations are underway with the help of the armed forces,” Mr Kotuwegoda told reporters in Colombo. Several days of torrential rains caused major slope failures, overflowing rivers and widespread flooding. Badulla, Nuwara Eliya, Kandy, Batticaloa and Polonnaruwa were among the worst-affected areas, with homes buried and entire communities cut off.
Officials said many people were still stranded in various flood-affected areas as waters were rising two days after the cyclone made landfall.
Indian forecasters said on Thursday that Ditwah was located in the southwestern Bay of Bengal, just off the coast of northern Sri Lanka.
It is moving roughly towards the coast of the southern Indian city of Tamil Nadu and will hit there early Sunday. The IMD said it is expected to cross the northern Tamil Nadu coast between Cuddalore and Puducherry as a cyclonic storm.,
As it approaches the coast, extremely heavy rainfall, wind speed of 80-90 kmph and rough sea conditions are expected over coastal Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and parts of Andhra Pradesh.
In view of the approaching storm, Tamil Nadu has placed parts of the delta and northern coastal belt including Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, Chengalpattu and Tiruvarur under red alert.
Chennai metropolis and surrounding areas were placed under orange alert for possible flooding and transport disruption. Fishermen were warned to stay ashore and people in low-lying areas were asked to prepare for possible evacuation.
Rainfall is also expected to increase in some areas of neighboring Karnataka.
The weather service has not predicted direct landfall, but warned that the system will pass so close that it could cause damaging winds, flooding and dangerous sea conditions.
Rainfall brought by Cyclone Ditvah was forecast to continue into early December.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over the deaths and destruction in Sri Lanka and said India was ready to send emergency relief material.
Mr Modi said, “My heartfelt condolences to the people of Sri Lanka who lost their loved ones due to Cyclone Ditvaah. I pray for the safety, comfort and speedy recovery of all the affected families.”
He said India has already sent emergency relief material and major humanitarian assistance under Operation Sagar Bandhu as Colombo reels from the cyclone’s aftermath. “We stand ready to provide further assistance as the situation evolves,” he said.
India has sent two search and rescue teams, comprising 80 rescue personnel, and aid to support the ongoing operations, the country’s embassy in Colombo said on Saturday.
In Sri Lanka, rainfall has reduced over most parts of the country, including the capital, but parts of the north of the island are still receiving rain due to the prolonged persistence of Cyclone Ditvaha.
The government deployed armed forces to reinforce rescue and relief operations across the country, using military helicopters and boats to rescue stranded residents – including those trapped under trees, rooftops and cut off villages.
Officials said the death toll rose after more bodies were recovered in the hardest-hit central region, where many victims of this week’s landslides were buried alive.
Vavuniya and Mullaitivu recorded over 300 mm rainfall in 24 hours, while several other places recorded over 200 mm rainfall.
The worst damage was in the central tea-growing region of Badulla, where overnight landslides caused houses to collapse, killing at least 21 people, the disaster agency said in a statement.
Social media videos showed homes swept away by rising floodwaters in cities, while major highways linking provinces were breached by landslides and flooding.
Sri Lanka’s meteorological department has warned of “heavy to extremely heavy rainfall” over the island nation’s Northern, North-Central, North-Western, Central provinces as well as parts of the Eastern and Western provinces as the cyclone continues to soak up moisture in the monsoon flow.
The Sri Lankan government closed schools and some public offices in badly affected areas and deployed about 20,500 army personnel for search-and-rescue and relief operations.
The railway department said all passenger trains, except a few essential services, were canceled from 6 am on Friday as tracks were damaged or submerged in several districts.
Due to the disruption, exams for students sitting A-level exams were postponed.
Sri Lanka experiences annual monsoon rains, but officials say events of this scale are rare.
The worst flood this century occurred in 2003, when 254 people died and hundreds of thousands were displaced.