Principals of schools in the Hatton and Nuwara Eliya education zones have been given authority to decide whether to keep their schools open or closed on Monday, depending on conditions in their own areas, as heavy rain continues across the Central Province.
The two zones cover the hill-country schools worst exposed to the current wet spell. The decision leaves the call with individual principals rather than closing the zones outright, allowing schools on flooded or landslide-prone approach roads to shut while others stay open.
Accounts differ on who issued the instruction. Ada Derana attributed the decision to the Provincial Director of Education, who it said had empowered principals to make the final call based on the weather situation in their respective areas. Hiru News reported that the Central Province Chief Secretary directed that steps be taken to close schools in the two zones as necessary, citing the severe rainfall and adverse weather in the region.
Why these two zones
The Hatton and Nuwara Eliya zones sit inside the area under the heaviest active warnings. The National Building Research Organisation’s landslide early warnings, in force until 11.00 p.m. on Monday, place Ambagamuwa and Norwood in the Nuwara Eliya district under second-level alerts, with first-level watches over Nuwara Eliya, Talawakele, Kothmale West and Kothmale East. Norwood and Ambagamuwa are the divisions immediately around Hatton.
The Met Department’s Monday forecast puts rainfall above 100 mm at some places in the Nuwara Eliya and Kandy districts and in Sabaragamuwa — double the threshold forecast for Sunday.
Much of the population in both zones lives on tea estates, where school access routes run along steep slopes and are among the first to be cut when the ground gives way. The Irrigation Department has separately issued a 24-hour flood warning for Mahaweli lowlands in six Kandy divisions.
