At least 19 people in Sri Lanka have been killed and more than 40 others are missing after two days of heavy rains and gale-force winds.
Sri Lanka’s navy has three vessels searching at sea for missing people, while the meteorology department has warned fishermen not to go out to sea.
The deaths and missing people from sudden gales and rain storms have been mostly in the southern district of Matara.
But the bad weather has hit central and western areas as well, and some people were killed while trying to cross swollen rivers.
About 5,000 homes have been damaged.
As the security forces are drawn into relief work there has been some public anger that weather officials apparently failed to predict the storms or warn people adequately.
