at least 12 dead and flood alert

The torrential rains that have continued uninterruptedly for days yesterday caused victims and missing persons. Serious destruction, schools closed. Rainfall of up to 150 mm is expected. The Disaster Management Center invites the populations of the valleys to move to higher areas. The anger of the residents of Maikkulama in Chilaw: “Floods happen two or three times a year. Nobody pays attention to our situation.”

Colombo () – The effects of the monsoon rains that have hit Sri Lanka in recent days are tragic. The country has issued a flood alert as the rains continue unabated. Since yesterday, June 2, the floods have caused 12 deaths and widespread destruction. Several provinces have suffered serious damage; five of them have been informed that heavy rainfall of more than 100 mm is likely. All schools have closed for today, and those in the districts of Rathnapura, Kegalle, Galle, Matara and Kalutara will not open tomorrow either. In Homagama area, Colombo district, the closure will continue until Wednesday, June 5.

In the early hours of today, 5 people were still missing. According to the Meteorological Department, extraordinary rainfall of more than 100 mm is expected in some places in the western provinces, such as Sabaragamuwa, as well as in the central, southern and northwestern provinces. The alert was issued by the Disaster Management Center (DMC), which warned of the danger of severe flooding on the outskirts of the capital, Colombo, and in many other areas of the island, due to torrential rains. The Irrigation Department said that due to heavy rain since the early hours of yesterday, the water levels of the Kelani River on the outskirts of Colombo and the Gin River in southern Sri Lanka have reached flood levels.

The Irrigation Department also reported that severe flooding may occur in some low-lying areas of the Aththanagalu Oya and Uruwal Oya valleys, located in Diwulapitiya, Mirigama, Attanagalla, Mahara, Gampaha, Minuwangoda, Ja-ela and Katana in the next 48 hours. . and Wattala. Additionally, the National Building Research Organization (NBRO) has further extended a landslide alert issued in Galle, Matara, Hambantota, Colombo, Kalutara, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Kegalle, Kurunegala and Ratnapura districts. The DMC has advised families living in lowlands to move to higher ground. The Meteorological Department, in its latest bulletin on Sunday, further said that more than 150 mm of rain is expected in the western and southern provinces and warned people to stay indoors. The DMC said authorities were urged to be on alert in case search and rescue operations were necessary in flooded areas.

Meanwhile, residents of Maikkulama village in Chilaw, Puttalam district, which is prone to floods most of the year, blame government officials and politicians. “No one pays attention to us. We face floods two or three times a year. All the residents of the village went to protest on the road to ask for solutions,” one of them, Sulochani, tells . “Not even the responsible village official comes to see this tragic situation. We don’t have food. We don’t have drinking water. We have been under the flood for three weeks now,” Parameshwarn repeats.

“Since the rains started, all the roads have been flooded. “This would not have happened to us if the drainage systems had been designed and built correctly,” Chandana Costa told . “There are small children and sick people. I am a heart patient. But it is not possible to stay calm at home. Water entered the house, the bathroom overflowed. Various diseases will soon begin to spread.” Parameshwaran also said that 300 to 500 families have faced a lot of problems due to flooding caused by heavy rains. «We can’t stop the rain. But we can control floods by providing solutions. “The authorities should do it.” About 30 families live in the urbanization called Chilaw Malwatta who do occasional jobs. During the rainy season, all the houses were flooded. A nearby lake is overflowing with Japanese hibiscus and local people claim that the lake overflows during the rainy season – flooding their homes – due to a lack of cleaning and drainage systems.