Cyclone Ditwah, which claimed around 650 lives and left at least 200 people missing, cast a heavy pall of gloom over Sri Lanka from the moment it entered the island’s skies Nov. 28. By Dec. 2, the storm had finally moved on, leaving behind silence, debris and grief — but also, in some places, an unexpected calm.

Along stretches of the Jaffna coast in northern Sri Lanka, the returning sunshine revealed a strange and startling sight. Thick patches of snow-like white foam had gathered along the shoreline, astonishing residents who said they had never seen anything like it before. For children, especially, the sight felt surreal. Amid a nation still mourning its losses, they ran barefoot along the beach, laughing and playing with the foam, as if it were snow.

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