Nine killed as floods hit several areas

Nadira Gunatilleke and Rafik Jalaldeen

COLOMBO: At least nine people were killed and a large number displaced as torrential rains lashed several parts of the country causing chaos and disruption to normal life.

Several areas in the City went under water by the sudden deluge caused by the heavy downpour from the early hours of yesterday which saw residences, shops and boutiques inundated and vehicles submerged. There were huge traffic jams in Armour street as vehicle traffic waded through the high water levels while train services were disrupted by submerged lines.

The inclement wether saw poor attendance in offices and schools while several roads were impassable even by

 noon yesterday.

Meanwhile, two giant Vesak Pandals at Manning Market and Olcott Mawatha came crashing down in the wake of the heavy rains and strong winds. No injuries were reported.

The Kaluganga and Kelani Ganga were in spate while people living on the banks of the Kelani river and outlying areas were seen rushing to high elevations, a common scenario during impending floods.

Meanwhile the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) engineers said that they cleared about 11 trees which had fallen due to high velocity winds.

They said that they assisted residents to cut off fallen trees located inside their premises. Most of the main roads in the city which were blocked due to fallen trees were subsequently cleared.

According to police media spokesman Senior DIG Jayantha Wickramaratne three persons died from lightening and electrical shock

following yesterday’ heavy downpour. The lightening victim was a 39-year old man from Kirulapona.

He said a woman drowned after falling into an unprotected gully at Wijerama junction, Horton Place. The incident occurred at around 8.30 a.m.

A woman was also electrocuted while handling an electrical appliance during heavy lightning, near the Gangarama Temple area the Senior DIG said.

Two children were killed when their house was buried under an earthslip following yesterday’s heavy rains in Nagoda, Galle yesterday morning, SSP Galle Keerthi de Silva said.

According to the SSP a rescue team from the Nagoda Police rushed to the spot and recovered the bodies after clearing the rubble from the collapsed house.

He said the bodies were of a 11 year old boy and 16 year old girl.

The two dead bodies were removed to the Karapitiya hospital.

Two others were killed in Baddegama in a landslide.

Another person was electrocuted in Kelaniya.

In a separate incident, a mother and her infant was rescued by the police in Karapitiya, SSP Silva told the Daily News.

The mother with infant in hand had climbed the roof of their home in order to save their lives from the ten feet of flood water. “A police team from Karapitiya rescued the mother and infant from their plight”, he added.

According to the Metrology Department the bad weather will continue today as well due to an atmospheric disturbance in the Eastern bay of Bengal and also due to the pre-monsoon conditions which had set in over Sri Lanka.

There will be showers or thunder showers in the Western and Sabaragamuwa provinces and in the Galle and Matara districts especially in the morning. Thunder showers will develop at several places in the Central, Uva and Eastern provinces during the afternoon, the Duty Forecaster said.

The Met Dept said there will be showers or thunder showers in the shallow and deep sea areas off the Western and South-West coast of the island. Winds will be a moderate 20 to 30 kmph and in the Southwesterly direction. It may increase up to 40 kmph at times in the Western. In the Western sea areas this will be moderate.

Colombo experienced 121.8 ml. rainfall yesterday (by 8.30 am) while Galle had experienced 119 ml. rainfall.