Sri Lankan rescue teams said Thursday they had recovered four drowned children killed in a flash flood, with four other people missing, after torrential rains from a powerful but slow-moving storm now heading towards India.

Three children returning from school are among at least five people who have died as heavy rains triggered floods and landslides in Sri Lanka, authorities said Wednesday. Five others are missing. Sri Lanka has experienced heavy downpours and strong winds over the past two days that have flooded homes,

The powerful but slow-moving storm, which is now heading towards India, has forced more than 250,000 people in Sri Lanka to flee their homes, according to the island nation's Disaster Management Center.

Sri Lankan rescuers on Thursday recovered the drowned corpses of six children, taking the number killed in torrential rains to 12, as a powerful but slow-moving storm headed towards India. Having skirted the coast of Sri Lanka,