At least 12 people, including six children, have drowned in torrential rain in Sri Lanka caused by a slow-moving storm now headed toward India. More than 335,000 people in Sri Lanka have been forced to flee after their homes were flooded in the storm, Colombo's Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said.

Sri Lankan rescue teams said Thursday they had recovered four drowned children killed in a flash flood, with four other people missing, after torrential rains from a powerful but slow-moving storm now heading towards India.

Cyclones -- the equivalent of hurricanes in the North Atlantic or typhoons in the northwestern Pacific -- are a regular and deadly menace in the region.

COLOMBO: Heavy rains lashed southern India on Wednesday (Nov 27) with coastal regions bracing for a likely cyclonic storm, as rescue teams in neighbouring Sri Lanka searched for eight people missing in floods.

Police in Sri Lanka say eight people, including six children who were returning from school, have gone missing when the farm tractor they were traveling on was swept away by floods triggered by heavy rains.

Three children returning from school are among at least five people who have died as heavy rains triggered floods and landslides in Sri Lanka, authorities said Wednesday. Five others are missing. Sri Lanka has experienced heavy downpours and strong winds over the past two days that have flooded homes,