At least 26 people were killed and over 230,000 persons affected in 17 districts as heavy rains along with gale-force winds swept through several parts of the country over the past two weeks, officials said.
The inclement weather was triggered by a low pressure in the Bay of Bengal that moved towards the South Indian coast of Tamil Nadu on Thursday but more rain is expected till Tuesday, according to the officials.
The recent observation of another low pressure area near Andaman Islands by weather officials which could bring in another spell of inclement weather dashed hopes of sun shine and brighter days in the coming week.
However, floods were receding according to the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) on Friday providing some relief to the affected.
Relief centres
According to reports most of the 88 relief centres set up by the DMC to shelter the affected persons were in operation yesterday as well.
Over 50,000 people from 13,000 families whose houses were damaged due to the bad weather had moved in with relatives while 12,000 were housed at shelters run by the DMC, the officials said.
Water levels of 90 percent of the reservoirs, rivers and other open water bodies which had risen to spill level forced irrigation officials to open several sluice gates of many reservoirs.
The districts of Kurunegala, Kegalle and Kandy were the most affected by landslides, rock falls and slope failures and 25 Divisional Secretariat Divisions (DSD) issued red alerts. In addition to that 27 DSDs in the Badulla, Colombo, Galle, Kalutara, Matale and Ratnapura districts put out amber alerts. Among the districts severely affected were Puttlam, Kalutara, Kurunegala, Ratnapura and Gampaha. The Kukule Ganga received a rainfall of over 160mm on Monday and Mihintale and Thabbowa over 200 mm on Tuesday.
Thirty-nine houses were fully damaged by the inclement weather, according to DMC estimates and 1,390 were partially damaged. Thirteen of the 26 deaths reported due to the inclement weather were due to drowning.
DMC Director General, Major General (retd.) Sudantha Ranasinghe said that most of these tragic deaths could have been averted if people were given prior warning.
Seven deaths were reported in Puttalam, six in Kegalle, six in Kurunegala and four in Badulla.
A single death each was also reported in the Matale, Galle and Mullaitivu districts.
In a related development the Kandy Colombo Road at the Pahala Kadugannawa was closed due to landslide threats since Wednesday night.
Alternative routes
Several alternative routes were announced to reach Kandy – via Hataraliyadda in Rambukkana, via Mahantegama in Ganetenna and Hemmathagama in Mawanella.
Director General of the National Buildings Research Organisation (NBRO) Asiri Karunawardena and officials visited the Kadugannawa site on Thursday morning where they inspected the threatened area and ordered to keep the stretch of road closed after assessing the risk level.
According to them, a hundred metre crack had emerged on the ground below. NBRO officials on Friday said the landslide risk at the site was still high and the threat will increase if the rains continued.
Although the water levels of rivers and reservoirs fell on most areas the Kandy districts however, continued to be affected by rough weather and two spill gates at the Victoria Reservoir were opened on Friday.
The Police and Tri-Forces were called in to assist those affected and clear the debris. Three SLAF helicopters were also pressed into rescue operations. –Manjula Fernando
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Major incidents
.Kegalle district - Rambukkana – a girl (8) her mother (36) and a cousin sister (13) died when their house was buried in a landslide.
.Kurunegala district - Narammala – 23-year-old woman died in a landslide.
.Kurunegala district - Giriulla town was affected by major floods.
.Kurunegala District - Kuliyapitiya – 38-year-old father and 11-year-old son returning from a private tuition class drowned.
.Kurunegala District - Rideegama - wife aged 65 and husband aged 70 died in a landslide.
.Kegalle District – Mawanella - Heenetipola Road caved in
.Kotadeniyawa – Pallegama - Part of the bridge over Maa Oya washed away.
.Kegalle district – Ruwanwella - People in 15 houses were relocated to emergency shelters.