Colombo, Sri Lanka ? Flash floods and landslides killed 141 people in south-central Sri Lanka this weekend, state media reported early today. Meteorology officials warned more rain was on its way.

About 150,000 people have fled their homes, officials said. They are being housed in temples, schools and public buildings.

The state-run Daily News, quoting state officials in worst-hit Ratnapura district and the adjoining areas of Hambabtota and Matara, put the death toll at 141.

Local officials in Ratnapura and Hambabtota, reached by telephone, said 69 bodies had been recovered and 47 others were believed buried in a landslide that wiped out an entire village. They said the death toll was expected to rise. Officials in Matara could not immediately be contacted.

The flash floods hit the area late Saturday, when most residents had returned to their homes after celebrating a festival marking the birth of Buddha.

“Fallen trees and blocked roads are making it extremely difficult to reach remote areas,” said Malini Premaratne, the chief administrator of Ratnapura district, the worst-affected area, 60 miles southeast of the capital, Colombo.

Ratnapura district, famed for its gem mines, is home to 1 million people.

Sri Lanka’s neighbor India, responding to a plea for help, said it had dispatched a naval patrol craft with relief supplies and medical teams.

Though water was receding from some areas, the Department of Meteorology warned of more rain today.

“There will be occasional showers accompanied by fairly strong winds,” the department said in a statement.

Sri Lankan army soldiers evacuate people by trucks in Ratnapura, 60 miles southeast of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Floods and landslides hit Ratnapura and villages in south central Sri Lanka during the weekend, leaving at least 141 people believed dead and forcing 150,000 people to flee their homes, officials said Sunday.

The government appointed a four-member Disaster Management Ministerial Committee, allocated $62,500 for immediate relief and announced it would pay $156 for funeral expenses for each of the dead.

The military also joined in the rescue and relief operations. Air force helicopters dropped some food on Sunday, but it was not enough for all those affected.

Sri Lanka’s Education Ministry announced that it was postponing school examinations.

Natural disasters of this magnitude are rare in Sri Lanka, a small tropical island country with 18.6 million people off India’s southern coast.

On May 13, a cyclone hit the country, blowing roofs off houses, uprooting trees and leaving some streets in the capital under 3 feet of water. Since then it has been raining heavily throughout the country.

Sri Lanka usually experiences monsoon rains between late May and mid-September.