In drought-stricken Sri Lanka, farmers watch wells empty and wildlife crowd shrinking water holes

MEDIRIGIRIYA, Sri Lanka (AP) — When the decades-long civil war that forced Samantha Pushpakumara from his village in north-central Sri Lanka ended, he was finally able to return home to a life of farming that he thought would give his family a stable future. That was until the rains didn't come.

Sri Lanka has been mired in drought for months, leading to severe water shortages that have left reservoirs dry and strained farming communities that depend on seasonal monsoons. Making matters worse, temperatures in many parts of the country have been higher than usual and high humidity has exacerbated the heat stress.

“We feel like we are being hit from every side,” Pushpakumara said. “If there is no water and we have to give up farming, we will have nothing left to live on.”

Climate experts say the lack of rain is likely due in part to a strong El Niño — a natural temporary warming of ocean waters that shifts weather patterns across the globe — combined with warmer temperatures driven partly by human-caused climate change.

Sri Lanka receives rain from two main monsoon systems. The southwest monsoon, which runs roughly from May to September, normally supplies up to 30% of the country’s annual rainfall, but this year there has been little rainfall through late September.

“We cannot say exactly whether it's due to climate change, since we need more evidence. But these kinds of events are increasing in recent years,” said Gayana Krishanthi Hendawitharana, a climate scientist at Sri Lanka’s weather department.

Recent showers have brought some relief to parts of the island. However, climate experts say scattered rain will not be enough to restore reservoirs and groundwater after months of dryness. The country’s 74 reservoirs have hovered around one-third full in recent weeks, resulting in water rationing in many parts of the island.

And it isn't only humans feeling the impact. The drought has also diminished water and food sources for wildlife in the country’s forests. Authorities are using water tankers and underground pipes to replenish watering holes inside some wildlife reserves.

In Medirigiriya, one of the most affected areas, rice farming is central to life. Roads run between villages and broad paddy fields, while small vegetable plots sit beside homes. During wetter years, rain fills irrigation tanks, and water stored there is released through the cultivation seasons.

This year, much of that landscape has been transformed.

The ground is dusty and brown. Vegetable gardens that once provided food and income have withered. Across exposed tank beds, cattle search for fodder.

In villages where household wells have failed, residents wait outside their homes with plastic barrels, bottles and jerrycans for water deliveries that are supplied for free by the Sri Lankan government and charities. On a recent day, a truck fitted with a large black tank pulled up along a dirt road, and families gathered around it with their containers.

For Indika Nuwankumara, a father of three, the drought has driven him into huge debt. He said he’s struggling to repay a $1,500 loan he had taken for farming. Without rain for four months, the rice, okra and eggplant he planted across his 8-acre (3.2-hectare) field have failed.

“I made a loss and am now struggling to repay the loan,” he said.

Nuwankumara said the intense heat has also made it harder to work in the fields.

“The daytime heat is unbearable,” he said. “Even using an electric fan inside our houses is not helpful because it blows warm air.”

The search for water is also playing out inside Sri Lanka’s wildlife reserves such as Yala National Park in southeastern Sri Lanka. Elephants, deer, water buffaloes, crocodiles and many types of birds including peacocks and cranes are among the wildlife that normally frequent watering holes to drink or cool off from the searing heat.

While the Menik River that supplies most of the 1,000-square-kilometer (386-square-mile) park still has flowing water, sections of the park have natural and artificial ponds that the animals drink from. Most of these have dried up. Wildlife officials say animals are suffering dehydration and heat stress.

In the dry landscape on a recent day, spotted deer bent their heads toward muddy pools. Elephants crossed parched ground and stood beside what remained of watering holes. In one area, hoses snaked across dusty earth near a small pool as wildlife workers tried to keep it supplied.

At another site, a tanker backed toward a watering hole and released water onto the baked ground.

Sri Lankan wildlife officials have said temperatures in affected areas have risen above 35 degrees Celsius (95 Fahrenheit), drying vegetation and leaving many natural water sources depleted.

Back in Medirigiriya, Vidanaarachchige Wimalasuriya said he was able to harvest only six sacks of rice after borrowing money expecting to harvest at least 50 sacks.

“The lack of water and excessive heat destroyed my crop,” he said. “I could not give the plants water when they needed it most.”

He said only last year his home and field had been flooded.

“Now we are facing drought,” he said. “I don’t know what is happening to our weather anymore.”

Hemapala Mallika, a rice farmer in Medirigiriya, said the sparse rain they have received in recent weeks has done little to help.

“The water disappears as quickly as water poured onto hot iron," she said. "Even when we get a small spell of rain, it is not enough to soak the soil.”

Arasu reported from Bengaluru, India.

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Vidanaarachchige Wimalasuriya sits under a tree in his paddy field, where his crops failed weeks ago due to drought in Medirigiriya, Sri Lanka, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Hemapala Mallika fills a pot with water she drew from a depleted well due to drought in Medirigiriya, Sri Lanka, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

A wild elephant roams as safari jeeps carrying tourists approach in Yala National Park in Yala, Sri Lanka, Friday, Sept. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

A water tanker fills a pond for animals during a drought in Yala National Park in Yala, Sri Lanka, Friday, Sept. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Ceylon spotted deer drink from a water hole that has shrunk due to a drought in Yala National Park in Yala, Sri Lanka, Friday, Sept. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Pathmini Ariyadasa removes a container from her drought hit vegetable field in Medirigiriya, Sri Lanka, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Pathmini Ariyadasa walks with her daughter through her drought hit eggplant field in Medirigiriya, Sri Lanka, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena) is this eggplant

Indika Nuwankumara drinks water to quench his thirst while searching for water in an irrigation tank that dried up due to drought in Medirigiriya, Sri Lanka, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Local government workers pump water from a truck into a temporary tank during a drought in Medirigiriya, Sri Lanka, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Paddy farmer Samantha Pushpakumara stands on top of an irrigation tank that has dried up due to drought in Medirigiriya, Sri Lanka, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Volunteers distribute drinking water to people impacted by drought in Medirigiriya, Sri Lanka, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Indika Nuwankumara searches for water in an irrigation tank that dried up due to drought in Medirigiriya, Sri Lanka, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

TOKYO (AP) — The governor of Okinawa demanded Wednesday that Japan's central government do more to ensure effective discipline among U.S. service members on the southern island following the arrest of a U.S. Marine on accusations that he robbed and killed a local woman.

Gov. Genta Koja, in Tokyo for the first time since taking office a week ago, conveyed Okinawa's outrage in his meeting with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, asking her government for further efforts to reduce the burden of hosting U.S. military bases on the small island.

“Okinawa has requested preventive measures every time similar crimes were repeated in past, and now we have this case again,” Koja told Takaichi in a guest room at the Prime Minister's Office packed with reporters.

“I must say past disciplinary measures and human rights education implemented by the U.S. military have not worked at all,” Koja said.

People in Okinawa have long opposed the heavy U.S. military presence on the island and complained about noise, pollution and crime related to American bases, though some have come to see its strategic value due to what is widely viewed as a growing threat from China.

Lance Cpl. Devin Jacob Ballard, a 20-year-old Ohio native belonging to the Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, was arrested over the weekend on suspicion of strangling Anna Yagi, 39, at a hotel and stealing her wallet and backpack. He has denied the allegations, according to Japanese media.

Takaichi said she regretted the “heinous crime” and shared the outrage. Noting the new disciplinary measures announced by the U.S. military Tuesday, Takaichi said she expected the American government to take subsequent steps.

Japan and the U.S. will discuss “how to implement preventive measures that are effective,” she said.

Hours earlier, the U.S. military in Okinawa announced a 48-hour pause of all military operations for training through noon on Friday, as well as restricting the ability of troops to leave their base and prohibiting consumption of alcohol.

Lt. Gen. Benjamin Watson, commander of III Marine Expeditionary Force, wrote in a letter posted Tuesday on X that episodes like these “demand we pause for reflection” and that serving on the Japanese island “comes with responsibility.”

U.S. troops on Okinawa will be under a curfew from midnight to 5 a.m. for 30 days following the two-day training period, Watson said.

Koja said he appreciated prompt response from the Japanese and U.S. governments to the murder case “as a sign they both took the case seriously.”

However, he will need to see details of the ongoing training, he said, and requested the Japanese involvement to make U.S. disciplinary measures more effective.

A majority of the more than 50,000 U.S. troops stationed in Japan under a bilateral security agreement are based on the island.

Earlier Monday, Koja made the same request in his meeting with Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi and Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi.

Associated Press writers Ben Finley and Konstantin Toropin in Washington and Ed White in Detroit contributed to this report.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, center, poses with Okinawa Governor Genta Koja, left and Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara ahead of their meeting at the prime minister's office in Tokyo, Japan, Wednesday, Oct.7, 2026. (Franck Robichon/Pool Photo via AP)

Okinawa Governor Genta Koja speaks to reporters after his meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi at the prime minister's office in Tokyo, Japan, Wednesday, Oct.7, 2026. (Franck Robichon/Pool Photo via AP)

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, center, holds a written request she received from Okinawa Governor Genta Koja, left, as they pose with Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara ahead of their meeting at the prime minister's office in Tokyo, Japan, Wednesday, Oct.7, 2026. (Franck Robichon/Pool Photo via AP)

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, right, receives a written request from Okinawa Governor Genta Koja ahead of their meeting at the prime minister's office in Tokyo, Japan, Wednesday, Oct.7, 2026. (Franck Robichon/Pool Photo via AP)

Okinawa Governor Genta Koja speaks to reporters after his meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi at the prime minister's office in Tokyo, Japan, Wednesday, Oct.7, 2026. (Franck Robichon/Pool Photo via AP)

Okinawa Gov. Genta Koja, left, and Japan's Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi greet, prior to their meeting at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo, Japan, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. (Kyodo News via AP)