A total of 21,356 people from 5,800 families have been affected by nine days of adverse weather and Cyclonic Storm Arnab, the Disaster Management Centre says, in a cumulative count that records six deaths, eight injuries and three people still missing.
The figures cover the period from 23 October to 1 November 2026 and span 137 Divisional Secretariat Divisions across 19 districts, the Daily Mirror reported at 11:55 a.m. Colombo time on Sunday.
Where the damage falls
Ratnapura District has recorded the highest number of affected people, with 10,051 individuals from 2,666 families across 15 Divisional Secretariat Divisions — close to half the national total from a single district.
Eight houses have been completely destroyed and a further 737 partially damaged, giving 745 damaged homes in total. The DMC’s count does not break the housing damage down by district.
This is a cumulative total, not a single event
The nine-day window matters for reading these numbers correctly. The count opens on 23 October, several days before Cyclone Arnab — which reached very severe cyclonic storm strength and made landfall on India’s Andhra Pradesh coast, not on Sri Lanka. The island was affected by the storm’s outer rain bands and by the generally unsettled conditions before and after it, rather than by a direct hit.
The DMC attributes the impact to “adverse weather conditions and Cyclonic Storm Arnab” together, and does not apportion the deaths or the damage between the two.
A second system is still developing
Arnab is not the storm currently in the forecast. A separate depression in the Bay of Bengal is tracking west-northwestwards and is expected to reach severe cyclonic storm strength by 2 November, with fairly heavy falls above 50 millimetres forecast over five provinces and two districts on Sunday afternoon. Fishermen have been told to stay out of Bay of Bengal waters until further notice.
The DMC’s totals therefore describe damage already done. They do not include anything from the system now approaching, and the current forecast track takes that system towards the Indian coast rather than across Sri Lanka.
Not reported
The filing does not identify the six people who died, say where the deaths occurred, or describe the circumstances. It gives no district breakdown for the deaths, injuries or missing, and no detail on the three people still unaccounted for. It does not state how many people are in safety centres, what relief has been released, or whether any districts remain under evacuation advice. No figure is given for infrastructure or crop damage.
This report rests on a single source. The DMC’s situation reports are issued daily and the figures above are a running total that will change.
