The heavy rain battering Sri Lanka is expected to ease from Tuesday afternoon (4), the Department of Meteorology said, while warning that a typhoon forming in the Pacific could push more rain onto the island after August 6.
Director General of the Department of Meteorology Ajith Wijemanna gave the outlook at a special media briefing at the Government Information Department on Monday (3). He said the present spell would hold until Tuesday morning before weakening around midday.
Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, the Sabaragamuwa province and parts of the Western province will keep receiving rain overnight and into Tuesday morning, he said.
Typhoon south of Japan
Wijemanna said a typhoon is developing over the Pacific Ocean south of Japan, and that its influence could lift rainfall again after August 6. The renewed rain is expected mainly in the Kandy and Nuwara Eliya districts and the Sabaragamuwa province, along the western slopes of the central highlands — the same upland belt now under landslide and flood warnings.
The mechanism is one the department has flagged before. In June, when the Met Department forecast a drier-than-normal July to September under El Niño, Wijemanna cautioned that the outlook could shift if typhoons developed over the Pacific, because such systems can strengthen the southwest monsoon and draw extra rain over Sri Lanka.
Examinations unlikely to be affected
Asked whether the weather would disrupt the upcoming Advanced Level and Grade Five Scholarship examinations, Wijemanna said there is little likelihood of that, Daily Mirror reported. A discussion with education authorities is scheduled for August 5 to go over arrangements for the examinations.
Government schools across the Kandy and Nuwara Eliya districts will stay closed on Tuesday because of the weather, and the University of Peradeniya has suspended academic activities.
The forecast comes at the end of a day in which two people were killed by earth collapses — at Nawalapitiya and at Polpitiya in Hatton — a major flood warning was issued for the Kelani River valley, and the Ministry of Defence ordered nationwide disaster preparedness measures.
