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The Colombo-based Disaster Management Center says 223,687 people have been affected by the floods and landslides.
Some 200,000 people are currently being housed in hundreds of welfare centers across the country.
A member of a Sri Lankan Army rescue team carries an elderly woman to safety through floodwaters in Colombo on Wednesday, May 17, 2016. At least 19 were killed in the flooding or flood-triggered landslides. Army and navy teams have been deployed to rescue people marooned by the flooding.
LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHI/AFP/AFP/Getty Images
The worst hit was the northern town of Kilinochchi, which recorded a rainfall of 372 mm during the 24 hours ending Tuesday, a quarter of what it usually receives every year.
ISHARA S.KODIKARA/AFP/AFP/Getty Images
A roadside statue of Jesus Christ is submerged by floodwaters in Pugoda, about 35 km (22 mi) from Colombo on May 17.
ISHARA S.KODIKARA/AFP/AFP/Getty Images
Over 340,000 people have been forced to flee their homes, the Disaster Management Center said. About 200,000 people are currently being housed in hundreds of welfare centers across the country.
Eranga Jayawardena/AP
The heavy rains destroyed 211 houses and damaged another 236.
ISHARA S.KODIKARA/AFP/AFP/Getty Images
People seek refuge under an overpass next to a railway track in Colombo on May 17.
Eranga Jayawardena/AP
Flood victims flock around a bus to receive food parcels on a inundated road in Colombo on May 17.
Eranga Jayawardena/AP
A landslide in Aranayake in central Sri Lanka buried three villages.
Sri Lankan Red Cross
Sri Lanka's Red Cross said over 200 families were initially missing in the landslide but rescue teams had managed to save over 180 individuals.
Sri Lankan Red Cross
The rains are expected to move towards the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
ISHARA S.KODIKARA/AFP/AFP/Getty Images
Floods strike Sri Lanka displacing over 340,000 people
Deadly landslides
The northern town of Kilinochchi was struck by 372 millimeters (nearly 15 inches) of rain in just 24 hours – a quarter of the area’s typical annual rainfall.
The downpour caused flash flooding and destructive landslides across the country. Thirteen bodies were recovered by rescue teams in Aranayake, Kegalle District, after a massive landslide hit a number of villages in the area.
According to the Red Cross, 200 families were initially buried by the debris but rescue teams had managed to reach over 180 people.
A second landslide in Bulathkohupitiya killed three, a military spokesperson said, but he added that local villagers said up to 100 people could still be caught in the mud.
Workers in areas prone to landslides in the tea-producing district of Nuwara Eliya were evacuated to safe zones.
The rains have come ahead of the regular monsoonal downpour expected later next month and are the result of a depression in the Bay of Bengal, according to weather forecasters.
