<p>The record rainfall of 440 mm in 12 hours brought Colombo to a virtual standstill and displaced around 60,000 people.<br /><br />The parliament house remained inaccessible to normal vehicles while naval boats and armoured vehicles were used to take the House speaker and MPs to attend the meeting in a submerged parliamentary complex built in the middle of an island in a man-made lake.<br />The water-logged parliament complex had to restrict its session to eight minutes.<br /><br />With the power supply disrupted and ground floor under three-foot high water, electric torches were used to lead the parliamentarians inside.<br /><br />Heavy traffic was seen on almost all roads leading to Colombo as they were flooded and disruption of power supply paralysed traffic lights.</p>
<p>The record rainfall of 440 mm in 12 hours brought Colombo to a virtual standstill and displaced around 60,000 people.<br /><br />The parliament house remained inaccessible to normal vehicles while naval boats and armoured vehicles were used to take the House speaker and MPs to attend the meeting in a submerged parliamentary complex built in the middle of an island in a man-made lake.<br />The water-logged parliament complex had to restrict its session to eight minutes.<br /><br />With the power supply disrupted and ground floor under three-foot high water, electric torches were used to lead the parliamentarians inside.<br /><br />Heavy traffic was seen on almost all roads leading to Colombo as they were flooded and disruption of power supply paralysed traffic lights.</p>