Heavy rains triggered fresh landslide warnings in Sri Lanka's worst-affected central hills on Friday, as the death toll from last week's Cyclone Ditwah neared 500.

The National Building Research Organisation (NBRO), which monitors the stability of mountain slopes, said heavy rainfall within 24 hours could further saturate the hills and make them unstable.

"Since rainfall within the past 24 hours has exceeded 150 millimetres, if the rains continue, evacuate to a safe location to avoid the risk of landslides," the NBRO said in a statement.

The latest deluge was brought on by the onset of the northeast monsoon, though some of the earlier flooding that began last week has started to subside.

The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said 486 people had been confirmed dead and another 341 were s

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