More than 401,980 persons or 110,204 families, have been affected by the heavy rains and floods in seven provinces.

Forty deaths have been recorded, while seven persons have gone missing.

The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) reported 4,191 houses had been destroyed and 21,705 damaged, while 39,191 persons, or 11,302 families, were accommodated in 242 evacuation centres.

The situation has returned to normal in the Galle and Hambantota districts, while in the Central Province, where 13 deaths were reported and seven missing, 9,114 persons have been affected with 1,570 persons from 476 families being sheltered in 22 evacuation centres in Matale (1,310) Kandy (208) and Nuwara-Eliya (52).

Six deaths were reported from the North-Central Province where 28,142 persons belonging to 7,978 families have been affected by disasters which destroyed 105 houses and damaged 531. There are 3,581 persons sheltered in 22 evacuation centers in Polonnaruwa and Anuradhapura.

The situation is back to normal in the Uva Province, where four deaths were reported with 86 persons housed in one evacuation centre in Badulla.

The situation is back to normal in the Eastern Province, where 231,160 persons from 62,446 families were affected in the Batticaloa, Ampara and Trincomalee districts. Ten deaths were reported from the East with 2,168 houses destroyed.

Ninety five persons are in evacuation centres in the North Western Province where 25,142 persons were affected and 1,575 houses destroyed.

In the Northern Province, 108,344 persons from 30,220 families were affected with 33,859 persons in 195 evacuation centres in Mullativu, Vavuniya, Mannar, Kilinochchi and Jaffna districts where 106 houses were fully damaged.

~ www.island.lk ~ By Lal Gunasekera