Updated

Sri Lanka's government says the death toll from strong winds and monsoon rains has risen to 24, and another 22 fishermen are missing.

A spokesman for the government's disaster management center, Lal Sarath Kumara, says fishermen have been hardest hit by the extreme weather that has lashed the country since Saturday.

He said Sunday that 23 of the dead were fishermen and the other was a person crushed by a fallen tree. Another 32 fishermen have been injured.

The meteorology department has issued a warning of bad weather with strong winds because of the southwest monsoon.