Terror of Sri Lankan landslides: 'All I could do was scream'

ELANGAPITIYA VILLAGE, Sri Lanka (AP) — Heavy rains Thursday pounded the central Sri Lankan region where at least three villages have already been swallowed by mountains of mud, forcing soldiers and police to suspend rescue work.

Military spokesman Brigadier Jayanath Jayaweera told reporters in the capital, Colombo, that the army was assessing the situation and would deploy more troops in the worst-hit Kegalle district if needed.

Villagers said torrents of muddy water, tree branches and debris came crashing down around their homes Tuesday in the three villages, located at different heights on the same hill in Kegalle district, about 72 kilometers (45 miles) north of Colombo.

Hundreds of stunned villagers took shelter in four temporary camps set up in schools and a Buddhist temple, where they were being given food, blankets and basic medical treatment.

Sri Lanka's disaster management center Thursday reported 38 deaths from lightning strikes and smaller landslides elsewhere in the country earlier this week.

During heavy rains in December 2014, authorities evacuated more than 60,000 people from thousands of homes damaged or destroyed by floods or landslides.

Two months before that, dozens of tea plantation workers were killed when mudslides buried their hillside homes.