A local boat travels out of the Male harbour in rough seas. PHOTO: NISHAN ALI/MIHAARU
National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) said on Saturday that homes in 57 islands across the Maldives were damaged by the severe weather caused by the cyclone that originated off the coast of neighbouring Sri Lanka during the weekend.
According to the statistics published by NDMC, 36 islands experienced flooding due to heavy rainfall, while four islands were flooded due to storm tides. Eighteen islands had experienced other damages caused by extreme weather, the centre revealed.
NDMC’s director general Sofinaz Hassan said that it is seeking the aid of Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) to drain the flood water off the islands, and to rebuild some houses that were damaged during the weekend.
“MNDF is mostly helping the islands that did not have the capacity to deal with the disaster on their own,” Sofinaz elaborated.
She also revealed that the island councils are tallying the total loss of household items is their respective islands.
In the Maldives, the northern and central atolls endured the worst affects of ‘Cyclone Ockhi’, which started out as a depression off the coast of Sri Lanka, and later developed into a cyclone.
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