The Department of Meteorology has forecast fairly heavy falls above 75 mm at some places in the Sabaragamuwa province and in the Kandy and Nuwara Eliya districts on Tuesday (4), lowering the threshold it set for the same catchments a day earlier.
Showers or thundershowers will occur at times in the Western, Sabaragamuwa and North-Western provinces and in the Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Galle and Matara districts, with cloudy skies prevailing over those areas, the department said in a bulletin issued at 5.30 a.m.
Several spells of showers are expected in the North-Central province. Showers or thundershowers may occur at several places in the Uva and Eastern provinces and in the Mullaitivu district after 2.00 p.m.
Strong winds of about 40-50 kmph can be expected at times over the North-Central, Sabaragamuwa, Southern, Central and North-Western provinces and in the Trincomalee district. The department asked the public to take precautions against temporary localised strong winds and lightning during thundershowers.
A step down from Monday
Monday’s bulletin had put falls above 100 mm on the same three catchments — Sabaragamuwa, Kandy and Nuwara Eliya — which was itself double Sunday’s 50 mm figure. Tuesday’s 75 mm marks the first reduction since the spell intensified over the weekend.
The heavy-rain zone has not moved, however. The same upland belt is named for a third consecutive day, while the shower areas have shifted west and south, picking up the Western province, Galle and Matara and dropping Central, Uva, Eastern and Southern from the at-times list.
The reduction matches the outlook Met Department Director General Ajith Wijemanna gave on Monday, when he said the spell would hold until Tuesday morning before weakening around midday, and warned that a Pacific typhoon could push rain back onto the hill country after August 6.
Falling on saturated ground
The districts singled out for the heaviest falls are the same ones absorbing the weekend’s accumulated water. The National Building Research Organisation’s landslide early warnings for divisions in Kandy, Kegalle, Nuwara Eliya and Ratnapura run until 9.00 a.m. on Tuesday, and a major flood warning remains in place for low-lying land in the Kelani River basin.
Monday’s rain killed five people in the central hills — four in an earth collapse at Polpitiya in Hatton and one at Nawalapitiya — and left more than 2,300 people affected in the Nuwara Eliya district. Government schools across the Kandy and Nuwara Eliya districts are closed on Tuesday.
