Sri Lanka closes offices and schools as death toll from landslides and floods rises to 56

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka closed government offices and schools Friday as the death toll from floods and landslides across the country rose to 56 while more than 600 houses were damaged, officials said.

Sri Lanka began grappling with severe weather last week and the conditions worsened Thursday with heavy downpours that flooded homes, fields and roads, and triggered landslides across the country.

More than 25 people were killed Thursday in landslides in the central mountainous tea-growing regions of Badulla and Nuwara Eliya, which is about 300 kilometers (186 miles) east of the capital, Colombo. Another 21 people were missing and 14 were injured in the Badulla and Nuwara Eliya areas, according to the government’s disaster management center.

Others died in landslides in different parts of the country.

As the weather conditions grew worse, the government announced the closing of all government offices and schools on Friday.

Due to heavy rains, most reservoirs and rivers have overflowed, blocking roads. Authorities stopped passenger trains and closed roads in many parts of the country after rocks, mud and trees fell on roads and railway tracks, which were also flooded in some areas.

Local television showed an air force helicopter rescuing three people stranded on the roof of a house surrounded by floods Thursday, while the navy and police used boats to transport residents.

Footage on Thursday also showed a car being swept away by floodwaters near the eastern town of Ampara, leaving three passengers dead.

A woman and child walk under a downpour in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Friday, Nov. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

A man walks under a heavy downpour in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Friday, Nov. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

A flooded hospital after heavy rains is seen in Chilaw, north of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Friday, Nov. 28, 2025. (AP Photo)

A tree is uprooted in front of a residential building partially damaged by heavy rains in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Friday, Nov. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

People walk past a section of a highway blocked by a landslide caused by heavy rain in Badulla, Sri Lanka, Thursday, Nov, 27, 2025. (AP Photo)

OSLO, Norway (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado will miss the ceremony to award her the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on Wednesday, the head of the Norwegian Nobel Institute said.

Machado last appeared in public 11 months ago. Nobel Institute director Kristian Berg Harpviken told public broadcaster NRK the Venezuelan opposition leader's daughter will accept the prize on Machado’s behalf. He later told the broadcaster that Machado was expected in Oslo during the day — but “unfortunately, she won’t arrive in time to attend today’s ceremony or other events.”

“We confirm that she will not attend the Nobel ceremony, but we are optimistic about her presence on the rest of the day’s agenda,” said Machado's spokesperson, Claudia Macero. She did not give information on Machado's current location.

Prominent Latin American figures planned to attend Wednesday's ceremony in a signal of solidarity with Machado, including Argentine President Javier Milei, Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa, Panama's President José Raúl Mulino and Paraguayan President Santiago Peña.

Machado has been living in hiding and has not been seen in public since Jan. 9, when she was briefly detained after joining supporters in a protest in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital.

The 58-year-old’s win for her struggle to achieve a democratic transition in her South American nation was announced on Oct. 10, and she was described as a woman “who keeps the flame of democracy burning amid a growing darkness.”

Machado won an opposition primary election and intended to challenge President Nicolás Maduro in last year’s presidential election, but the government barred her from running for office. Retired diplomat Edmundo González took her place.

The lead-up to the July 28, 2024, election saw widespread repression, including disqualifications, arrests and human rights violations. That increased after the country’s National Electoral Council, which is stacked with Maduro loyalists, declared the incumbent the winner.

González sought asylum in Spain last year after a Venezuelan court issued a warrant for his arrest.

U.N. human rights officials and many independent rights groups have expressed concerns about the situation in Venezuela, and called for Maduro to be held accountable for the crackdown on dissent.

Five past Nobel Peace Prize laureates were detained or imprisoned at the time of the award, according to the prize's official website, most recently Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi in 2023 and Belarusian human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski in 2022.

The others were Liu Xiaobo of China in 2010, Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar in 1991 and Carl von Ossietzky of Germany in 1935.

“There is a long tradition that when a Peace Prize laureate cannot be present, close family members represent them," Harpviken said. "That happened with Narges Mohammadi, and with Ales Bialiatski; both were imprisoned at the time. And the same will happen with Maria Corina Machado today. The daughter will deliver the statement her mother has written.”

Ana Corina Sosa, center, daughter of Nobel peace prize laureate Maria Machados, arrives at the Grand Hotel in Oslo on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (Lise Aserud/NTB via AP)

FILE - Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado greets supporters during a protest against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro the day before his inauguration for a third term in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, file)

From left: Colombia's former vice president Marta Lucía Ramírez, Pedro Urruchurtu Noselli and Magalli Meda, who are collaborators with the Nobel Prize winner, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, are seen at the Grand Hotel in Oslo, Tuesday Dec. 9, 2025. (Cornelius Poppe/NTB Scanpix via AP)

FILE - Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado displays vote tally sheets during a protest against the reelection of President Nicolas Maduro one month after the disputed presidential vote which she says the opposition won by a landslide, in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, file)