At least 56 persons have been reported dead in Sri Lanka — as of Friday (November 28, 2025) morning — amid incessant rains combined with strong winds, even as Cyclone Ditwah appears to proceed north and north-west, towards the coast of Tamil Nadu.

The island has been experiencing torrential downpour over the last couple of days, with several districts recording unprecedented levels of rainfall.

Cyclone Ditwah LIVE updates – November 28, 2025

According to the Department of Meteorology and the Disaster Management Centre, 20 out of Sri Lanka’s 25 districts are badly hit, with over 12,000 families and 43,000 people directly affected amid an island-wide “red alert” issued by authorities.

Reports indicated that the impact of the extreme weather conditions is especially severe along the east coast — in Ampara, Batticaloa, and Trincomalee — as well as in the Central Province, home to Kandy and Nuwara Eliya, both popular tourist destinations, and Matale, and Uva Province’s Badulla district.

Several areas remain heavily flooded, while roads remain inundated and inaccessible in the hill country — where some of Sri Lanka’s poorest communities, such as the Malaiyaha Tamil tea and rubber estate workers, reside.

Harrowing accounts of cars veering off roads and falling into waterways, families stuck on roads overnight, or climbing onto rooftops to survive the night amid rapidly rising stagnant water levels are being shared on social media, as authorities struggle to respond to what appears to be Sri Lanka’s worst rains in recent years. As rivers overflow and water levels in reservoirs increase, authorities have also issued flood warnings in the island’s southern districts.

Schools, offices closed

Schools have been ordered to remain closed, while authorities declared a holiday for government offices — barring essential services — on Friday.

Convening an emergency meeting with representatives from all parties on Thursday, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake urged MPs from both the government and the opposition to visit their districts and help with relief distribution while urgently ensuring public safety.

Compensation of LKR 1 million (roughly ₹2.9 lakh) from the President’s Fund will be paid to the families of those who lost their lives.

Further, President Dissanayake directed tourism authorities to ensure essential services are available for foreign tourists affected by the severe weather. Aviation authorities said some flight schedules have been disrupted.

Sri Lanka stopped passenger trains and closed roads in some parts of the country where landslides and floods triggered by heavy rains have caused more than 20 deaths, officials said on Thursday (November 27, 2025).

The government’s disaster management center said 18 of the reported deaths occurred in the tea-growing, mountainous regions of Badulla and Nuwara Eliya in the country’s central province about 300 kilometres (186 miles) east of the capital Colombo.

Another 14 people were missing on Thursday due to landslides in the same areas, the center said.

The death toll has risen to 31 since last week, when Sri Lanka began grappling with severe weather. Heavy downpours over the weekend wreaked havoc by flooding homes, fields and roads.

Authorities stopped trains in some areas in the mountainous region after rocks, muds and trees fell onto tracks and local television showed workers busy removing the debris. Roads also were closed due to heavy flooding.

The severe weather has impacted about 4,000 families, the center said.