At least 24 people have been killed in Sri Lanka after torrential rain brought flooding and mudslides across the island nation.

About 160,000 people were forced to flee their homes as the heavy rains swept through the region flattening farmland.

In the agricultural heartland, it is the country's farmers that have been the hardest hit, with thousands of hectares of crops completely destroyed.

Al Jazeera's Minelle Fernandez reports from Polonnaruwa, north central Sri Lanka.