Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has declared a state of emergency throughout the island in view of the emergency situation that has emerged due to the devastation caused by floods.

According to an official gazette dated Friday and released on Saturday, the state of emergency has been declared throughout the island.

The need for speedy deployment of troops, police, the health sector, civil administration and the civil defence force to tackle the crisis situation is to be facilitated through the state of emergency, officials said.

India has launched Operation Sagar Bandhu, a Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) initiative, to support Sri Lanka after Cyclone Ditwah triggered severe flooding, landslides and disruption across the island nation.

An Indian Air Force aircraft carrying around 12 tonnes of humanitarian aid, including tents, tarpaulins, blankets, hygiene kits, and ready-to-eat food items reached Colombo on Saturday (November 29).

The Cyclonic storm Ditwah over southwest Bay of Bengal and adjoining north Sri Lanka moved north-northwestwards with the speed of 8 kmph during the past six hours and lay centered at 8:30 am today, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

It is very likely to continue to move north-northwestwards and reach over southwest Bay of Bengal near North Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and adjoining south Andhra Pradesh coasts by early morning of November 30, the weather department added.

"While moving north-northwestwards the cyclonic storm will be centered over southwest Bay of Bengal within a minimum distance of 60 km, 50 km and 25km from the Tamil Nadu coastline by midnight of today, and early morning and evening of tomorrow," IMD added.

Chennai Airport authorities have cancelled 54 scheduled flights in view of the cyclone's approach and the IMD's forecast of extremely heavy rainfall and strong winds over the next 48 hours.

The suspended services include ATR-type regional turboprop flights scheduled between Saturday morning and night. Flights to destinations such as Madurai, Tiruchirappalli, Thoothukudi, Salem, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Jaffna have been affected.

Both departures and arrivals have been cancelled, and airlines have advised passengers to avoid last-minute travel to the airport. Airport officials said the decision was taken after assessing the risks posed by cyclonic winds and heavy downpour.

Cyclone Ditwah has exited Sri Lanka, leaving 123 dead, amid a trail of destruction and damage to infrastructure, entering the south Indian coastal line, meteorological officials said.

"We noticed Ditwah exiting Sri Lanka and heading towards the Indian coast," Athula Karunanayake, director general of the meteorology department, told reporters.

"However, its indirect impact with heavy rains and high speed winds will remain for some time," he added.

The official death toll at 9 am was 123 while 130 remain missing, according to the Disaster Management Centre (DMC).