News
Severe weather continues to thrash the vulnerable
At least 10 persons were killed due to landslides and floods as heavy rains left over 250,000 displaced in five Provinces, officials said.
Four persons belonging to the same family – the mother, father and two children – were buried in a landslide close to Devanagala in Aranayake of the Kegalle District last morning. The lone survivor of the house was a pet dog who was seen digging the earth which had covered the house. Later, a backhoe was used to remove the soil in the area and all four bodies were recovered by noon in the location where the dog was trying to dig into the earth, police said.
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- The dog who showed the rescuers where to look for his buried family members
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- Stranded (Pix by M A Pushpakumara, Eshan Fernando, Hiran Priyankara Jayasinghe and Pradeep Kumara Darmarathna)
The family’s residence was located in an area which was identified as being vulnerable to landslides. They had been directed to leave the area, however, claiming they had no alternative land, they had remained in the area after providing an affidavit that they were staying their at their own risk. They had been issued the warning in 2018 after several landslides occurred in the area. A relative of the family said that the son had been employed in the Maldives and had built a house in a safer area in the village. They were about to complete the house and move away when tragedy struck them yesterday. The son was also due to get back to the Maldives for employment, but had been delayed due to the hike in Covid-19 cases recently. The victims were identified as K Wijeratne, 57, Lalitha Weerasinghe 56, Shanika Pushpakumara, 29 and Umesha Maduwanthi, 23.
In Algama, Warakapola a 70-year-old person was killed when a boulder fell onto his house on Friday. Earlier on Friday, a 16-year-old girl was killed by a landslide; her mother sustained injuries. Another person was feared dead in the same incident as he had been passing by at the time of the landslide and was reported missing.
Two persons who had gone for a bath in the Maha Oya in the Puttalam District were washed away. Another who had gone for a bath in a stream in Milleniya, Horana was also caught in flood waters.
The adverse weather conditions due to the Southwest Monsoon left several areas under water in the Kalutara, Gampaha, Colombo, Ratnapura and Kegalle Districts. Areas affected the most were in the Western Province where over 150,000 people faced hardship due to rains and flooding. More rains are expected as the Monsoon is still active, the Meteorology Department said.
The Met Department forecast heavy rains in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Northwestern, Central and Northern Provinces and in the Galle and Matara Districts.
The National Building Research Organisation (NBRO) has issued landslide warnings for Ratnapura, Matara, Kegalle, Kalutara, Galle and Colombo Districts. The NBRO instructed people
in the region to be on alert for the possibility of landslides, slope failures, rock falls, cut failures and ground subsidence and
to evacuate to a safe location if rain continues.
Power and Energy Development Director and Media Spokesperson, Sulakshana Jayawardena said 44,000 consumers had lost electricity supply as a result of the hostile weather conditions. Areas including Matugama, Kalutara, Horana and Dambulla have been affected by the power outage.
The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) maintenance services were deployed to restore power supply urgently amidst the Covid-19 situation. Most power lines were disconnected due to trees and branches falling on them Mr Jayawardena added. In areas such as Nivithigala, transformers were switched off in the face of flooding.
Director of Irrigation (Hydrology), S P C Sugeeshwara, said that the Kelani, Kalu, Gin and Attanagalu Oya were beginning to spillover as considerable rainfall, exceeding 200mm, had occurred in their catchment areas.
Meanwhile, the water levels of the Kukule Ganga catchment areas have also reached spill levels, and if the weather intensifies, those who reside in Palindanuwara, Millaniya and Bulathsinhala are cautioned of possible flooding.
Disaster Management Centre – Rathnapura, Assistant Director S H M Manjula said due to adverse weather, 2,107 people from 561 families faced difficulties due to flooding and earth slips.
Soil erosion caused by extreme rainfall along the coastline from Chilaw, Thoduwawa to Ambakandawila has seen erosion of around 4 kilometres.
Many roads in Colombo and other parts of the country were inundated. Along the Kalutara, Bulathsinhala-Molkawa main road, the Bulathsinhala-Kalutara road, too, was blocked.
Meanwhile, a group of Navy personnel were deployed to provide relief to the people affected
by floods. Navy relief teams have been deployed in the flood-risk areas of Gampaha, Ragama, Mahabage, Kelaniya, Bulathsinhala and Paragoda in the Gampaha and Kalutara Districts of the Western Province, as well as Thawalama, Hiniduma, Nagoda, Eppala, Mapalagama and Athuraliya in the Galle and Matara Districts of the Southern Province. Navy teams are also engaged in flood relief operations in the Gampaha District as well. The Navy has made additional relief teams available to deploy in an emergency situation.
Additional reporting by Aranayake Pradeep Kumara