COLOMBO (News 1st) – The Meteorological Department says that the current heavy rains are expected to continue, due to the influence of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ – The region where the Northern Hemispheric wind and the Southern Hemispheric wind converge) located in the vicinity of the island.Accordingly, showers or thundershowers will occur at times in Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central and North-Western provinces and in Galle and Matara districts.
Heavy showers above 100 mm can be expected at some places in Western, Sabaragamuwa and Central Provinces and in Galle and Matara Districts.Showers or thundershowers will occur elsewhere over the Island during the afternoon or night.
Fairly heavy showers above 75 mm can be expected at some places.General public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damages caused by temporary localized strong winds and lightning during thundershowers.Meanwhile, the Irrigation Department says that Kelani, Kalu Ganga and Attanagalu Oya are still at minor flood level.The Director of the Hydrology and Disaster Management Division, Engineer S.P.C.
Sugeeshwara said that the people living in the lowlands on both sides of the river should be very careful.Moreover, the landslide warning issued to Colombo, Galle, Kalutara, Kegalle, Nuwara Eliya and Ratnapura districts still remains in effect.A total of 55,435 people belonging to 13,902 families have been affected by the heavy rains, the Disaster Management Center reported.The Center stated that three deaths have been reported due to the rains, while five houses have been completely damaged.The number of partially damaged houses is 178..