Eleven Die in Sri Lanka Floods

For more news & videos visit ☛http://english.ntdtv.com<br /><br />Heavy monsoon rain causes flooding across several provinces in Sri Lanka, leading to a death toll of at least 11. Not only have lives been lost, but most of the rice crop is under threat.<br /><br />Heavy rain has triggered flooding in Sri Lanka that has forced 320 thousand people into temporary shelters and killed at least 11 people.<br /><br />Flooding hit the Eastern, Northern and North Central provinces for the second time in less than a month.<br /><br />The inundation is threatening up to 90 percent of the staple rice crop, heightening concern about supply stocks and inflation.<br /><br />Sri Lanka cultivates 1.4 million acres of paddy twice a year, and another 250 thousand acres has been added in the former war zone in the Northern and Eastern provinces.<br /><br />Floods in January killed more than 40 people and forced as many as 325 thousand from their homes<br /><br />The Agriculture Ministry had said that at least 21 percent of the rice crop was destroyed.<br /><br />Flooding and displacements are common in Sri Lanka, where a southern monsoon batters the island between May and September, and a north-eastern monsoon runs from December to February.