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As Sri Lanka grapples with a severe drought that has dried up wells, rivers and irrigation tanks, the country has turned to an age-old source of hope: divine intervention.
According to AFP, the Sri Lankan Air Force on Sunday said it had flown three Buddhist monks over drought-hit parts of the country, where they prayed for rain and sprinkled holy water from the aircraft. The saffron-robed monks conducted prayers during a Saturday evening flight aboard a Y-12 aircraft, while Air Force personnel poured holy water over the parched areas.
“As the nation faces the hardships of dry weather, the aircraft takes to the skies in a symbolic act of compassion,” the Air Force said in a social media post, reported AFP.
The unusual aerial ritual comes as Sri Lanka confronts one of its most severe droughts in decades.
According to Reuters, the country's north, east and southern regions have been particularly badly affected, with some farming districts recording rainfall deficits of 85% to 100% below long-term averages. Wells, rivers and small irrigation tanks have been drying up, while some tanks have fallen to just around 10% of their normal levels.
The crisis has forced the government to arrange drinking-water deliveries for tens of thousands of people. In some remote communities, residents have reportedly waited as long as 23 days for tanker supplies. Farmers have also suffered heavy losses as crops fail and livestock struggle amid water shortages.
The irony is that Sri Lanka's weather crisis is not simply a story of a country running out of rain.
According to AFP, the country's meteorological authorities have warned that the drought could be followed by heavy rainfall from late September through December, before another prolonged dry spell expected sometime early next year.
That possibility reflects one of the central challenges posed by an increasingly volatile climate: the same country can face acute water scarcity and destructive excess rainfall within relatively short periods.
In August, heavy rains triggered floods and mudslides in Sri Lanka's central highlands, killing at least seven people, damaging hundreds of homes and forcing nearly 3,500 people to evacuate.
The immediate driver of the current drought is El Niño, a naturally occurring climate phenomenon that alters global wind and rainfall patterns. According to Reuters, Sri Lankan officials have described this year's event as exceptionally severe, while the World Meteorological Organization has warned that the current El Niño could become one of the strongest observed in decades.
But the broader climate-change picture is more complicated.
According to AP News, an analysis by World Weather Attribution found that warmer North Indian Ocean waters contributed additional heat and moisture to Cyclone Ditwah and the extreme rainfall associated with it. Researchers estimated that ocean temperatures in the region were about 1°C warmer than they would have been without global warming, although they cautioned that the precise contribution of climate change to the individual event could not be quantified.
That makes Sri Lanka's current predicament particularly striking: the island is confronting a water crisis at both ends of the spectrum — too little water in drought-hit regions and the threat of too much water when heavy rains arrive.
Even hydroelectricity faces the pressure
The drought is also raising concerns about Sri Lanka's energy security. Water levels in reservoirs, including those supplying hydropower stations, are around half capacity, according to officials cited in the information provided by the Air Force.
Sri Lanka has turned to religious rituals for water-related crises before. The country's electricity utility has previously held religious ceremonies when reservoirs supplying hydropower plants ran dangerously low.
For now, however, the prayers come alongside a very real race to conserve water. At Yala National Park, the country's largest wildlife reserve, two of its six blocks have already been closed to visitors because of drought conditions. Moneycontrol World Desk first published: Sep 21, 2026 08:45 am Discover the latest Business News , Sensex , and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
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