Some people are starting to return home as the water levels in the worst affected eastern regions are slowly coming down.

But many people’s livelihoods have been badly damaged by the torrential rains.

Saturday is the annual harvest festival for many Hindus, including Sri Lankan Tamils.

But many were not able to celebrate. In one of the ornate gopurams or temples in Batticaloa’s town centre, the BBC saw just a handful of people offering prayers.

The temple was flooded and is only now drying out.

But, at this festival time, others among the flood-displaced did venture out of the schools and other public buildings to which they fled six days ago when the flooding became really severe.

It is their livelihoods that give the UN particular cause for concern. Many farmers have lost their rice crop, and Muslim labourers whom the BBC met at food distribution centres haven’t had work since the New Year.

The UN’s chief in Sri Lanka, Neil Buhne, says that in its imminent appeal the world body will call for millions of dollars in aid to help replant fields and compensate those put at risk by the floods.

As the waters go down, some people are going home. Outside Batticaloa the BBC met local government officials who had to abandon their entire office building when it, too, flooded. They’re hoping to reoccupy it soon.