Wed, May 23, 2018, 10:16 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
May 23, Colombo At least 11 persons have died and 105,000 people have been affected due to the adverse weather conditions prevailing in Sri Lanka while 105,000 people were affected, according to the latest update from the Disaster Management Center.Heavy rains accompanied by lightning and high winds battered 18 districts of Sri Lanka since Saturday and five people have died from lightning strikes alone. The other deaths were caused by incidents such as drowning in floodwaters, tree falls and earth-slips.
A heavy rainfall was received across several parts of Sri Lanka between 20 and 21 May 2018, caused heavy rains and flash floods mainly in twelve districts, including Southern, Western, North-Western, and Sabaragamuwa Provinces.
Meanwhile the Department of Meteorology predicts that the turbulent conditions in the Bay of Bengal will be strengthened to a low pressure system and thundershowers could be expected in many parts of the country in the next few days.
The Irrigation Department requested the people living near the Kalu Ganga to pay attention to the water level of the River with the continuing rains.
However, Department of Irrigation has said that water level of several major rivers which were at flood levels earlier are decreasing as of 6:30 pm local time today.
The water level of the Kelani River is currently decreasing, but the Nagalagam Street water gauge shows a high level. The water levels of the Mahaweli and Nil Wala Rivers, Ma Oya and Attanagalu Oya are receding, the Department said.
Meanwhile, the sluice gates of the Rajanganaya Reservoir have been opened this morning and the sluice gates of Deduru Oya, Polgolla and Udawalawe reservoirs remain open.
Due to the continuing rain, the National Building Research Organization (NBRO) has extended the landslide warning to another four districts. Kandy, Matale, Badulla, Kurunegala, Gampaha and Colombo districts have been issued a new landslide warning while warning issued for Ratnapura, Kegalle, Nuwara Eliya, Kalutara and Galle districts will remain active further.
Heavy rains have severely impacted Puttalam and Ratnapura districts and all small reservoirs in the districts have reached spill levels.
Some low lying areas in Gampaha and Colombo districts have also been submerged and the traffic on Kaduwela-Biyagama Bridge has been limited to one lane as the bridge is in danger of sinking.
The DMC said 557 military and police officials were mobilized immediately for search and rescue operations while 5,826 military and police personnel have been organized as stand-by teams for immediate deployment.
The Road Development Authority (RDA) has introduced hotline numbers 1969 for people to provide information on damages to the expressways and 1968 for other roads damaged by rain.
National Disaster Relief Services Centre has meanwhile provided Rs. 14.7 million cash allocations to the 12 District Secretaries to address the immediate needs of the affected populations.
The government's National Natural Disaster Insurance Policy will pay a compensation of up to one million rupees to the next of kin for each death and the government will grant Rs 10,000 for each flood damaged houses for cleaning the unit.
Minister of Disaster Management Duminda Dissanayake has visited Kalutara area and State Minister of Disaster Management, Palitha Range Bandara has visited Puttalam area together with Ministry and District officials to provide effective relief to affected people.
