The death toll from the storm in Sri Lanka has risen to 40 with some fishermen still missing, the Disaster Management Center (DMC) said on Monday.

DMC spokesman Sarath Lal Kumara told Xinhua that the bodies of the 40 fishermen have been recovered and search and rescue operations are underway to locate those missing.

Over 100 houses have also been reported as being fully damaged by the storm, the DMC said.

The Sri Lankan air force said on Sunday that it had deployed its Beech King Air (B-200T Beechcraft) surveillance aircraft to search the coastal areas as part of a continuous joint search and rescue operation being conducted together with the navy to locate the missing fishermen.

The navy said it has also increased its search and rescue deployments and has sent one more ship along with five additional fast attack crafts for the relief operation.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa had over the weekend sought an explanation from Sri Lanka's Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Amaraweera on how the public was informed about the impending storm on Friday night.

The fishermen, who were unaware of the storm, had gone out to sea on Friday and got caught under rough sea conditions. The family members of the victims blamed the department of meteorology for failing to inform the fishermen about the storm.

Strong winds and heavy rain uprooted trees and damaged property over the weekend in Sri Lanka and also damaged several fishing boats.

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