Charles Haviland BBC Colombo Correspondent

	Victory parade is postponed due to rain

Some have been forced into temporary camps as heavy rain has hit the west and south of the island, especially along the coast.

At least nineteen people have been killed, and officials have told the BBC several more days of heavy rain are expected.

That sound has been a regular backdrop to life this week as sheets of rain have left parts of the island under water.

Of the nineteen people who have died, two were struck by lightning. Five hundred and twenty thousand people could only watch as rainwater quickly entered their homes.

Seventy camps for displaced people have been set up in the capital and the worst-affected district, Gampaha, to its north.

The Red Cross and the armed forces have joined a big operation to provide relief including cooked food.

Parliament adjurned

On Tuesday the national parliament, which is built on an island reached by a lake causeway, had to adjourn because of flooding fears.

The main road to the airport was also flooded and a helicopter service was provided for wealthier Sri Lankans to reach it.

One report said Tamil civilians recently resettled in the north after the war, had sent lorry-loads of flood relief goods to Gampaha, reciprocating aid sent from southerners to the north last year.

There were political repercussions, too: a huge military pageant to mark one year since the defeat of the Tamil Tiger militants was postponed indefinitely.

An opposition politician said the "rain gods" were punishing the government for their incarceration of the former military chief, Sarath Fonseka.