Lanka issues landslide warnings as cyclone toll hits 627

Sri Lankan authorities issued fresh landslide warnings on Sunday with rains lash~ ing areas already devastated by a powerful cyclone, as the death toll rose to 697.

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A chain of tropical storms and monsoon rains has battered Southeast and South Asia, setting off landslides, flooding vast tracts and cutting off communities from Sumatra island’s rainforests to the highland plantations of Sri Lanka.

At least |,826 people have been killed in the natural disasters rolling across Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam over the past two weeks.

More than two million people in Sri Lanka — nearly 10 per cent of the population — have been affected by last week's floods and landslides triggered by Cyclone Ditwah, the worst on the island this century.