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Uduwara girls’ deaths reflect worsening dangers from unprecedented downpours
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Ambalantota: Pic by Rahul Samantha Hettiarachchi
By Nadia Fazlulhaq
The tragic deaths of two much-loved 20-year-olds have left a village grief-stricken after a landslide buried them in a room where childhood friends were spending an evening.
V. Dhanusha and T. Keerthina, residents of Hali Ela, thought they would spend the evening at Dhanusha’s home in Uduwara, Hali Ela, as her mother had to attend a funeral.
“Both were watching movies and laughing when I left home. But when I returned, the house was silent, and the girls were not answering their phones. When I opened the door to the room, I was shocked. The room was filled with soil, with the girls buried deep in a mound of earth that had collapsed on top of the room,” a tearful Kandasamy Annakkili Dhanusha’s mother said.
Anamaduwa: Pic by Hiran Priyankara
Villagers dug them out and carried them about 500 feet below to the Badulla-Bandarawela road. They were rushed to the Badulla Teaching Hospital. The battle to keep the girls alive failed, leaving the hospital staff in tears.
This week saw bright and sunny mornings turn into monstrous evenings, with heavy rainfall creating chaos and causing deaths all over the country.
Those living in Badulla and Ratnapura districts experienced rock falls and earth mounds collapsing on houses and shops.
A Level 3 (immediate evacuation) warning was issued to Balangoda, Kolonna, Opanayake, Weligepola, and Imbulpe in the Ratnapura district and was still in place yesterday. Passara divisional secretariat divisions and surrounding areas were also issued evacuation orders this week. (Please see the graphic for landslide-risk areas.)
The Disaster Management Centre’s (DMC) Badulla coordinator, E.M.L. Udayakumara, said a number of roads in Nuwara Eliya-Badulla, Passara, Ella-Wellawaya, Bandarawela, and Mahiyanganaya experienced rock falls and trees falling on electricity posts due to heavy rains and strong winds.
About 70 houses were damaged in the Ratnapura district and 25 in the Kegalle district this week.
The house in Hali Ela: The mound of earth that claimed two young lives. Pic by Prasad Rukmal
Peradeniya town once again saw an earth slip that killed a 68-year-old man sleeping inside a shop on the main road. It also destroyed four shops.
The DMC said the National Building Research Organisation (NBRO) has declared the road from Peradeniya to Katugastota near Guhagoda as high-risk. Motorists and the public have been told to avoid the road or be extremely cautious.
According to the DMC, over 1,500 people from 430 families have temporarily moved to shelters.
High-intensity rainfall also triggered flash floods and resulted in inland waterways reaching spill levels.
The overflowing of Attanagalu Oya led to floods in Attanagalla, Gampaha, and Minuwangoda, and 900 people have moved to safe places.
“Out of 699 tanks and reservoirs in the district, 415 have reached spill level,” said Vavuniya District Secretary P.A. Sarathchandra.
Close to 80% of power generation is now using hydropower, the Ministry of Power and Energy said.
Castlereigh Reservoir reached 100% capacity with 13 sluice gates opened. Kotmale and Victoria too received heavy rainfall, with levels reaching 99% of capacity.
Vavuniya: Pic by Romesh Madushanka
Samanala Wewa, which was severely depleted due to drought a few months ago, has now reached 121.5% capacity with sluice gates opened. The increasing water levels of the Walawe River caused floods in Ambalantota villages near the river banks. All spill gates in Udawalawa were also opened.
Meanwhile, lightning strikes killed a 15-year-old boy in Anguruwathota, Horana.
The Railways Department struggled with rockfall and earth slips obstructing the hill country line. Badulla-bound trains had to terminate at Nanu-Oya for two days, with the Colombo Fort-Badulla night mail train also suspended. However, train services resumed at the weekend.
The current weather will continue till the end of November, said Merrill Mendis, deputy director (weather forecasting and disaster management) of the Department of Meteorology.
“We are experiencing the second inter-monsoon, which is known for thundershowers in all parts of the country. But it has been raining continuously since September. This is due to the El Niño weather phenomenon, which will affect the country’s weather until next June. Enhanced rainfall is due to this condition,” he said.
Additional reporting and pix by Palitha Ariyawansa, Prasad Rukmal, Romesh Madushanka, Sumanasiri Gunathilake and Nayanananda Buwaneka
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