Floods and mudslides kill three and displace more than 60,000 in Sri Lanka

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – Three people died and more than 60,000 had to be evacuated to safer locations due to floods and mudslides caused by heavy rains around Sri Lanka, officials said Tuesday.

The Disaster Management Center said that three days of heavy rain in 15 districts also injured two persons and destroyed 1,900 homes.

Hospitals and government offices were inundated and some inmates of a prison were transferred to other facilities.

It is monsoon season in some parts of Sri Lanka, but many other areas not normally affected are also experiencing non-seasonal rain.

Dozens of people were killed in October when mudslides buried homes of tea plantation workers in the country’s central hills.

Some serious flooding in Sri Lanka right now – stay safe everyone in North Central and other effected provinces! #lka pic.twitter.com/x76TrGW9g3

— Paul M.M. Cooper (@PaulMMCooper) December 22, 2014