News
Lightning alert as inter-monsoon season starts
The intense heat of the past weeks has given way to heavy rains, thunderstorms and lightning, with those pushed into marginal areas by poverty and over-population most at risk of harm.The Department of Meteorology this week issued severe weather warnings for the Western, Eastern, Uva, Northern, North Central and Southern provinces over the next few days.
Strong winds in Madampe damage houses. Pic by Hiran Priyankara Jayasinghe
The country is midway into its inter-monsoon season and the weather is causing hardship and deaths.
Lightning is a major feature of the inter-monsoon season, the Meteorology Department’s Director (Forecasts), Sarath Premalal said.
Lightning killed one person and injured 12 others in Medirigirya, Polonnaruwa this week, Disaster Management Centre (DMC) Deputy Director Pradeep Kodipilli said. At least 14 people were injured by lightning in Yatiyanthota in Kegalle.
Rainfall ranged from 100mm to more than 3000mm with the biggest falls in Ginigathhena (3,267mm), Watawala (3252mm) and Norton (3121mm), the Meteorology Department said.
Landslide warnings were issued for the Balangoda and Imbulpe Divisional Secretariats in the Ratnapura district while 25 families living in the Pettigala Estate in Balangoda were evacuated due to a landslide threat.Fifteen families were evacuated from the Baranda Estate in Nawalapitiya due to the risk of landslides, Divisional Secretary of the Pasbage Korale in Nawalapitiya, Chamila Amaratunga, said.
“The evacuees were moved to the Barandawala Tamil School in Nawalapitiya,” he said. Low-lying land in Pathamulla and Owilana in Balapitiya has been inundated following heavy rainfall, with 25 homes flooded, he added.
“The increase in population and subsequent need for land have forced more and more people to live and work in the vulnerable areas, thereby intensifying the risk to life and property in the event of a major disaster,” Mr. Kodipilli said, commenting on these events.
People living near embankments should be extra cautious due to the risk of the levees being breached, the National Building Research Organisation’s (NBRO) Landslide Research and Risk Management Division Head, R.M.S. Bandara, said.Those using roads in hilly areas should be cautious about earthslips if the area received rainfall of at least 250mm for two consecutive days, Mr. Bandara said.
Fifteen houses were damaged by strong winds that swept through the Hingurakgoda, Pansalgodella area in Ratnapura and disrupted electricity supply to the area. Thirty houses were damaged by wind in the Paduwasnuwara east, Kuliyapitiya east and Bamunakotuwa areas, and residents said several roads had been inundated by incessant rains.
An official in the Divisional Secretary of the Balangoda said steps were taken to relocate 125 families to safer grounds owing to the risk of landslides which are also a threat in Nuwara Eliya. In Puttalam, incessant rain has damaged 26 houses and farmland, and uprooted trees felled high-voltage power lines in the Upper Galagama area, disrupting electricity supply, Puttalam District Secretary N.H.M. Chittrananda said.
Suffocated to death
By Chandana Samarawickrema
A 65-year-old man in Andiyagama in Negombo was buried in an earthslip on Tuesday and died from injuries.
The victim, A.M.T. Somaratne, had been collecting mud for brick-making.
Death was caused by suffocation by being buried in earth, the Inquirer into Sudden Death, Keerthi Wickremaratne, told the Coroner’s Court.
According to Irrigation Department officials, water levels in the district’s tanks at Weligaha, Wadimunai, Kithulwewa and Kaddamuri are rising.In the central hills, heavy winds and torrential rain caused floods, landslides and earthslips in several areas while heavy mist blanketed the area and boulders fell onto roads, disrupting traffic.
The Met Department predicted that the strong El Nino conditions that affected the country last year would cause the south-west monsoon to be delayed by a week. “The due date for the monsoon was May 25, but this year it would reach the country in the first week of June,” Mr. Premalal said.
Seruwila villagers cry out for more water
While heavy rains fall in some areas, in Seruwila in Trincomalee the dry weather continues with several hundred people hit by a shortage of water.
Disaster Management Centre (DMC) head Pradeep Kodipilli said more than 500 people are suffering hardship.
There are complaints from desperate villagers that bowsers are not being sent to them frequently enough. Additional District Secretary Trincomalee S. Arulrasa said the bowsers sometimes have to travel 30-40km from the water plants.The Sunday Times learns that most divisional secretariats only possess agricultural tractor browsers that can hold about 1000 litres of water and are in dire need of browsers that could convey more.