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4,000 people affected, 1,000 houses damaged in provinces lashed by rain and wind
More than 4,000 people were affected and 1,000 houses damaged, and several reservoirs were spilling over as heavy rains and strong winds lashed the Central and North Western Provinces, officials said yesterday.
A motorcyclist in the Central Province town of Panwila became the first casualty of the current spell of bad weather, they said. He was killed when a tree fell on his motorcycle. His brother who was riding pillion was injured.
The officials said that elsewhere in the province, several houses had their roofs blown off while several small dams had collapsed in the Kurunegala, Eppawala, Hatton, Talawakele, Maskeliya, Nuwara Eliya, Kotmale, Walapane and Ambagamuwa areas during the past several days.
Nuwara Eliya District Secretary M.P.R. Pushpakumara told the Sunday Times that the affected people in the district were being sheltered in several schools and given cooked meals.
He said although they were warned of rains, the heavy winds were unexpected.
The worst affected were the daily paid estate workers. Their houses had been damaged and they could not go to work and earn their daily wage, the official said.
Transport was disrupted due to landslides on the Colombo-Hatton Road and the Hatton-Nuwara Eliya Road. At Watawala, 14 kilometres from Hatton town, the collapse of a sandbank blocked traffic for several hours.
Residents said that, in some areas, sand mounds had come crashing down despite the wire mesh the authorities had erected to mitigate the danger.
The adverse weather, ironically, has also caused a drinking water problem in the estate areas. Residents said several streams from where they took water had turned muddy.
“We usually draw water from the streams and springs, but now we only get muddy water,” Norwood estate worker Sinniah Palaniandy said, adding that, in the past few days, they had no work, no food and no water to drink.
Motorists travelling upcountry have been warned to take precautions due to the misty and slippery conditions.
Meanwhile, in the Kalutara, Nivithigala and Matugama areas, falling trees and branches have damaged several estate houses and disconnected power supplies in several areas.
The Meterological Department has predicted that the prevailing weather conditions will continue for a few more days.
Fishermen have been warned that strong winds would be experienced in the the coastal areas from Pothuwil to Galle and from Puttalam to Negombo.
The collapse of a sandbank close to Hatton town. (above and top left). Pix by G. Krishanthan
Landslide in Thalawakele
Displaced people in Kudagama, close to Hatton