Floods in Jaffna peninsula claim 6 lives, leaves devastation

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 November 2008, 16:54 GMT]
Six people died and 268,038 persons belonging to 73,523 families were severely affected by the torrential downpour and gale-force winds that plagued the peninsula in the past four days, according to statistics released by A. Sivasamy, the Additional Government Agent (AGA) Jaffna. 6,689 houses have been totally destroyed while 14,820 have been partly damaged, the statistics revealed. Electricity supply and telecommunication services will take at least a week to get back to normalcy, the officials of the respective services in Jaffna said. Meanwhile UN agencies in the peninsula are taking steps to provide relief supplies to the displaced and affected persons.

Up to Saturday 17,632 displaced persons in 251 temporary refuge camps have been sheltered, the AGA said.

Electricity supply and Telecommunication services to the entire peninsula remain affected, officials of Sri Lanka Electricity Board (SLEB) and Sri Lanka Tele-communication Department officials in Jaffna said.

The damage and destruction to the various crops and cultivation in Jaffna peninsula is estimated to be heavy, the AGA said.

Rain water in the UN agency office compounds located in Nalloor, Jaffna, is beginning to drain off as the rains have subsided.