Heavy rains lashing the south-west over the past week have killed seven persons, damaged 52 houses, and displaced 1,012 families. The worst affected districts were Kegalle, Kalutara, Colombo, Gampaha, Kurunegala, Ratnapura and Galle, according to the Disaster Management Centre. Five deaths were reported from Kegalle and two from Kalutara.
Rains triggered a landslide that killed a mother and daughter in Dammala, while a collapsing sand mound smothered two children in Kandewa. An elderly woman in Warakapola died in a separate landslide.
In the Kegalle district, rains were especially heavy in the Galigamuwa, Warakapola, Dehiowita and Bulathkohupitiya divisional secretariats (DS) areas displacing 1,098 persons from 329 families. Six persons were injured and 14 houses badly damaged.
In the Kalutara district, a resident of Millaniya was killed by lightning, and one person drowned in Walallawita. Flooding in Millaniya, Beruwala, Matugama, Horana and Walallawita has displaced 406 families and damaged 17 houses.
In the Galle district, one person in Thawalama suffered injuries as a result of the rains, and three families in Niyagama were displaced.
Seethawaka was the worst-hit area in the Colombo district, with 592 persons from 14 families displaced in Meerigama, Gampaha.
Rains battered Alawwa, Pannala, Panduwasnuwara, Kuliyapitiya, and Narammala in Kurunegala, and two houses were destroyed in Eheliyagoda, Ratnapura.
One person who fell into the Ma Oya two days ago remains missing. The Kurunegala district disaster management office has identified him as Nihal Jayakody, 40 years, of Narammala.The Hatton-Nuwara Eliya main road was blocked off yesterday by a landslide in Diyagala, Ginigathhena. |
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