COLOMBO: Floods and mudslides triggered by heavy rain have killed at least 14 people in Sri Lanka and driven 80,000 from their homes, police and officials said on Friday, as the country marked the 10th anniversary of the tsunami.

Police said at least 10 people were killed in mudslides in the central region where 38 people lost their lives in a similar disaster in late October.

Four other people drowned in flooding triggered when authorities opened the sluice gates at a number of reservoirs to reduce pressure on their dams.

Authorities deployed troops to assist with relief operations for around 80,000 people whose homes were flooded or damaged by two days of unusually heavy rains.

The meteorological department issued a severe weather warning over the floods, which came as Sri Lanka held commemorations for the 31,000 people killed there when the Asian tsunami hit in 2004.

Published in Dawn, December 27th, 2014