The Disanter Management Center said a short while ago that 980,095 people of 270,052 families have been affected by the inclement weather. Meanwhile, 85,778 individuals of 24,807 families are in shelters due to floods and landslides. The DMC also added that 4267 homes have been completely destroyed and 13,170 homes were partially destroyed.

Inclement weather has already claimed 17 lives and 12 people still remain missing, the Disaster Management Center further said. It has added that 15 people are also injured due to weather related incidents.

Meanwhile, the Meteorological Department has released a severe weather warning at 6.30am today valid for 12 hours. It said that the low pressure area off 400km east of Hambantota has intensified into a depression again and is expected to move northwards affecting to the weather of the country and surrounding sea area.

Showers will occur over most parts particularly in the Eastern, Uva, Central, Northern and North central provinces and in the Hambantota District, the weather warning added further.

Heavy falls (more than 100 mm) are also likely at some places and strong winds (up to 60-80 Km/hr) can be expected at times over the island and over the sea areas around the island, the Met Department said.