Sri Lankan rescue teams said they had recovered four drowned children killed in a flash flood, with four other people missing, after torrential rains from a powerful but slow-moving storm now heading towards India.
More than 250,000 people in Sri Lanka have been forced to flee after their homes were flooded.
Weather officials said there was a “possibility” that the deep depression over the southwest Bay of Bengal could develop into a cyclonic storm.
Having skirted the coast of Sri Lanka, it was now moving north towards India’s southern Tamil Nadu state.
Sri Lanka’s Disaster Management Centre said some 276,000 people were seeking temporary shelter in public buildings after their homes were swamped.
The government has asked the army to help in relief operations.
The disaster center said search teams were still looking for two missing children and two men, who were also swept away by flash floods while on tractor and trailer.
Deadly rain-related floods and landslides are common across South Asia, but experts say climate change is increasing their frequency and severity.
