video transcript

ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION) STORY: At least 42 people have been killed and nine are reported missing as heavy rains hit various parts of Sri Lanka, officials at the Disaster Management Center said on Sunday. Flooding in central, north central and eastern Sri Lanka has displaced thousands, and more than 17,000 people have been housed in 100 relief camps, the officials said, adding that around half of the country's 71 main reservoirs were overflowing and their sluice gates had to be opened, making the flood situation even worse. Sri Lanka has suffered heavy rains for more than a week. The floods have inundated a number of large towns and rural areas, forcing hospitals to evacuate patients and roads to close after landslides. Hundreds of thousands of acres of agricultural land have also been affected. The floods are some of the worst that Sri Lanka has seen since early 2011, when unusually heavy monsoon rains left at least 64 people dead and drove more than one million people out of their homes.