Heavy Rains Continue in Sri Lanka; Thousands Displaced

The latest victim of the continuing rain in Sri Lanka was the ongoing cricket match. At the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Friday, not one ball was bowled as the fourth day in the second test between Sri Lanka and the West Indies was completely washed out.

The rains have been coming down nearly nonstop for several weeks. Earlier this month, Sri Lanka saw the heaviest rainfall in 18 years, leaving the capital city of Colombo almost entirely submerged, approximately 36,000 families homeless and the Parliament building under four feet of water.

The Sri Lankan government announced Friday that it is allocating $1.8 million to provide relief assistance for flood victims. The aid will be distributed to the Colombo and Gampaha districts in the Western Province, the Kurunegala and Puttalam districts in the North Western province, the Matale district in the Central Province and the Hambantota district in the Southern Province.

According to the minister of disaster management, Mahinda Amaraweera, as of Thursday, more than 16,000 people have been affected by floods and landslides around the country, particularly in the Matale district where landslides have destroyed property, roads and caused several deaths. According to news reports, nearly all of those affected have been displaced by the flooding.

The repeated flooding of urban areas has brought attention to the need for better planning.

“We have to seriously think about making sure that we do not block the drainage and [channel] systems,” the UNDP assistant resident representative, Ananda Mallawatantri, told IRIN. “Otherwise the rainwater will have nowhere to flow.”

The forecast shows no ease in the weather conditions. The country’s meteorological department said that an atmospheric disturbance is likely to bring more rain in the days to come, particularly in the afternoons.