220 families missing in Sri Lanka

By evening on Wednesday, rescuers had pulled 17 bodies from the mud and debris unleashed by several days of heavy rain across the island nation.
Officials said the extent of the tragedy was still unclear, but the Sri Lankan Red Cross said at least 220 families were unaccounted for.
"The task is to figure out what happened to them," the Red Cross said in a statement, noting that some people might have left after local officials warned earlier this week of possible landslides.
Heavy fog, rain, electrical outages and the loose ground were complicating efforts to search for survivors.
As night fell, the rescue operation was suspended until dawn.
Officials warned that, with rain still falling, more landslides could occur in the area.
Villagers said torrents of muddy water, tree branches and debris came crashing down around their homes on Tuesday in the three villages, located at different heights on the same hill in Kegalle District, about 72 kilometres north of Colombo.
Near the village of Elangapitiya - furthest down the hill - soldiers carried bodies to a school, where families waited for news of missing loved ones.
Farmer Hewapelige Lal said he had identified the body of his nephew, but that 18 other family members were possibly buried under the mud.
He and his wife had left their home to take fruit to a daughter who lived elsewhere, but at some point his wife turned back.
"That was the last time I saw her," Lal said, sobbing.
When he heard of the landslide, he rushed home, but found the area covered with thick, heavy mud.
"All I could do was scream."
Officials could not give the populations of the villages of Siripura, Elangapitiya or Pallebage, but such villages typically include 1000-1500 residents.
Sri Lanka's disaster management centre reported 11 deaths from lightning strikes and smaller landslides elsewhere in the country on Monday and Tuesday.
Nearly 135,000 people have been displaced and are being housed in temporary shelters.