Monsoon rains in Sri Lanka: At least 12 dead amid flood warnings

Torrential rains that have been continuing unabated for days yesterday resulted in deaths and missing persons. Extensive destruction, schools closed. Rainfall of up to 150 mm is expected, with the Disaster Management Centre urging people in the valleys to move to higher ground. The anger of the inhabitants of Maikkulama in Chilaw: ‘Floods two or three times a year. No one pays attention to our situation’. 

Colombo (AsiaNews) - The effects of the monsoon rains that are lashing Sri Lanka these days are tragic. The country has issued a flood warning as the rainfall continues unabated. Since yesterday, 2 June, the high rainfall has caused 12 deaths and widespread destruction.

Several provinces have suffered severe damage; 5 of them have been informed that heavy rainfall of over 100 mm is likely. All schools have been closed for today, while schools in the districts of Rathnapura, Kegalle, Galle, Matara and Kalutara will not open tomorrow; in the Homagama area, Colombo district, the closure is extended until Wednesday, 5 June.

In the early hours of today, five people were still missing. Extraordinary showers of more than 100 mm are expected in some places in the western provinces, such as Sabaragamuwa, as well as in the central, southern and north-western provinces, according to the Met department.

The alert was issued by the Disaster Management Centre (DMC), which emphasised the danger of severe flooding on the outskirts of the capital Colombo and in many other areas of the island due to heavy torrential rains.

The Department of Irrigation said that due to heavy rains since the early hours of yesterday, water levels in the Kelani River, on the outskirts of Colombo, and the Gin River, in southern Sri Lanka, have reached flood levels.

According to the Irrigation Department, severe flooding is possible in the next 48 hours in some low-lying areas of the Aththanagalu Oya and Uruwal Oya valleys, located in Diwulapitiya, Mirigama, Attanagalla, Mahara, Gampaha, Minuwangoda, Ja-ela, Katana and Wattala. In addition, a landslide warning issued by the National Building Research Organisation (NBRO), issued for Galle, Matara, Hambantota, Colombo, Kalutara, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Kegalle, Kurunegala and Ratnapura districts, was further extended.

The DMC said it has advised families living in low-lying areas to move to higher areas. The Department of Meteorology, in its latest weather alert on Sunday, additionally stated that more than 150mm of rain is expected in the western and southern provinces and warned people to stay indoors. The DMC said law enforcement agencies were urged to be on the alert in case search and rescue operations were needed in flooded areas.

Meanwhile, residents of Maikkulama village in Chilaw, Puttalam district, which is prone to flooding for most of the year, accuse government officials and politicians. ‘Nobody pays attention to us. We face floods two or three times a year.

All the villagers have gone to protest on the highway demanding solutions,’ one of them, Sulochani, tells AsiaNews. ‘Even the village official does not come to see this tragic situation. We have no food. We have no drinking water. We have been under flooding for three weeks now,’ Parameshwarn echoes him.

‘Since the rains started, all the roads have been flooded. This would not have happened to us if the drainage systems had been properly designed and built,' Chandana Costa told AsiaNews. ‘There are young children and sick people. I am a heart patient. But one cannot stay at home comfortably. Water has entered the house. The toilet overflowed. Various diseases will spread in the near future.’

Parameshwaran also said that 300 to 500 families faced many problems due to the floods caused by the heavy rains. ‘We cannot stop the rain. But we can stop the floods by providing solutions. The authorities should do that.’

In the estate called Chilaw Malwatta live about 30 families who do odd jobs. During the rainy season, all the houses were flooded. A nearby lake overflows with Japanese hibiscus and locals claim that the lake floods during the rainy season - overwhelming their houses - due to a lack of cleanliness and drainage systems.