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Ditwah batters Sri Lanka: Central Province bears the brunt
View(s):By Jayani Madawala
Central Province bore the brunt of Cyclone Ditwah, with its three districts—Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, and Matale—suffering the highest toll in lives lost and property destroyed.
The Kandy district topped the death toll list, with 232 people being killed, with 89 still missing.
As many as 350 people of a total of 611 persons killed in the devastation were from the province’s three districts, where 17,000 houses were fully or partially damaged.
A flood victim at Nilabamma in Karuwalagaswava, Puttalam district, wipes her tears after the devastating blow of Cyclone Ditwah. Pic by Hiran Priyankara
Search and rescue operations continue, though hopes of finding survivors are fading, officials said. Still, families press on in their search for the remains of loved ones.
Several Central Province villages, mainly in the Kotmale, Gampola, and Ududumbura areas, have been washed away; damaged roads appear beyond renovation, and rail tracks and bridges have suffered extensive damage.
Even though the worst of the weather is over, remote villages affected by the weather disaster in the Kotmale and Ramboda divisions are still unreachable.
With no warning, most houses were buried by the mudslides at dawn last Thursday or Friday.
I heard a loud sound around 2 a.m. I thought it was the heavy rains and winds, but an hour later I realised my neighbouring village had been crushed by landslides,” Kotmale resident Ashoka Dharmapala said.
He said many were unaware of the coming disaster, as no warning had reached them.
At the Gampola Kurusa Junction, 11 people went missing, and so far only five bodies of men have been discovered after continuous efforts by rescue teams.
At Boliyadda, a village in the Badulla district, a resident recalled the experience the village faced. He said that in anticipation of landslides, they tried to construct obstacles using rocks; the efforts became futile against the force of the landslide.
All over the country, officials said some two million people have been affected—of them, some 114,126 people are being accommodated at 1,236 shelters set up by the government.
The Kandy district suffered extensive damage, being among the worst-hit areas with significant death tolls, massive landslides that buried villagers, including Ganegoda in Ududumbara, widespread destruction of hundreds of houses, extensive damage to infrastructure (roads, bridges, power, and water), and large-scale displacement, particularly in hilly regions due to torrential rains and landslides.
Residents alleged that the irresponsible release of water from the Kotmale and other reservoirs in the Kandy district was the main cause of unprecedented floods in Gampola, Gelioya, Peradeniya, Getambe, and Katugastora.
The adverse weather impacted the Peradeniya area, causing the Mahaweli River to overflow into parts of the Botanical Gardens. The Peradeniya University was also under water.
Several deadly landslides caused significant damage to the Kandy-Mahiyanganaya Road and other roads on the mountainous terrain.
The Nuwara Eliya district recorded 89 deaths and 35 missing, while in the Matale district 28 deaths were reported and nine are unaccounted for.
In the Matale district, Moragahakanda Reservoir is currently at a critically high level – close to full capacity – and as a result, the authorities have urged the residents living downstream and in low-lying areas in Abhanganga to remain vigilant.
The Badulla district was also severely affected, with 83 deaths and 28 missing, while nearly 3,000 houses were fully or partially damaged in several landslides reported.
In the Kurunegala district, 61 deaths were reported, while 11 persons were reported missing.
In the Northern and Eastern Provinces, the human losses were less in comparison to other areas, but the damage to the agricultural crops and livestock was extensive.
At least 275,819 people from 84,729 families are affected in Northern Province, according to the Disaster Management Centre (DMC).
Nine deaths were reported, and four were reported missing in the province, according to officials.
In Jaffna, 53,727 people from 16,849 families were affected, with three deaths reported. Mullaithivu recorded 39,193 people from 12,691 families, while Kilinochchi saw 25,631 individuals from 8,264 families impacted. In Vavuniya, 20,785 people belonging to 6,320 families were affected.
In Mannar, 127,269 people from 30,569 families were affected, while 22 houses were destroyed. Some 822 houses suffered partial damage.
In the Musali, Manthai West and Nanaddan divisional secretary areas, where most of the livestock farmers live, several farm animals are feared dead.
Accessing Periyamadhu, Koorai, and Seethu Vinyagapuram villages remains challenging due to floods, rescue officials said. Both the Navy and the Air Force are providing dry ration relief packages to affected families.
In the Mannar district alone, 26,000 cattle have been lost.
The entire population of Mannar district, which has faced the worst flood in its 40-year history, has been affected, while its economy, which depends on agriculture and livestock, has been devastated, officials said.
More than 35,000 acres of paddy cultivation were also damaged in the area.
A total of 26,012 livestock, including 16,386 cows and 9,628 sheep, have died in the floods, which also killed more than 31,264 chickens.
Besides causing deaths to livestock and poultry, the cyclonic weather also damaged farms and shelters.
In many districts across the country, power lines were down, telecom services disrupted, and critical water supply systems damaged, affecting a large number of people.
The Ministry of Energy has said that electricity will be restored, attributing the failure to issues at the Rantambe and Mahiyanganaya transmission system.
Power disruption was also experienced in several areas in the Batticaloa and Ampara districts and Mahiyangana following the damage to the transmission tower and transmission cables. However, the authorities restored supplies to hospitals, water pumping stations and other essential service facilities through temporary lines.
In Welimada, electricity supply has been restored by Ceylon Electricity Board teams from the Southern Province.
In Kalpitiya, officials said acres of harvest have been damaged by the floods, with large peanut cultivations being destroyed, causing severe economic loss to farmers.
(Additional reporting by Shane Seneviratne, Shelton Hettiaarachchi and Mahesh Keerthiratna.)
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