The Department of Meteorology has issued a “Red” level advisory for strong winds and rough seas covering the sea areas off the coast from Puttalam to Pottuvil via Colombo, Galle and Hambantota.
Those waters will be very rough at times, with very strong gusty winds reaching 60-70 kmph, the department said. Naval and fishing communities have been advised not to venture into the affected sea areas.
The advisory was issued on Tuesday (4) and will remain in effect until 10.00 a.m. on Wednesday (5), Ada Derana reported. The Daily Mirror, carrying the department’s “Take Action” advisory, reported the restriction as applying until further notice.
Those already engaged in fishing and other naval activities in the affected waters have been urged to remain vigilant and to follow subsequent forecasts and advisories issued by the department.
A wider belt than the weekend warning
The bulletin extends the highest wind band to a coastline that was previously split between two tiers. The Red warning issued on Sunday put the 60-70 kmph gusts only on the stretch from Galle to Pottuvil via Hambantota, while the waters from Puttalam to Galle via Colombo were placed a tier lower at 50-60 kmph.
Tuesday’s advisory applies the 60-70 kmph band across the entire Puttalam–Pottuvil belt, taking in Colombo, Kalutara, Galle, Matara and Hambantota at the higher level for the first time in this spell. The Sunday warning had been reissued once already, on Monday evening, for a further 24 hours.
Boats already ashore
Small and one-day fishing vessels along the same coastline have been kept in port since Monday, when the Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources extended its fishing ban from Puttalam to Pottuvil. Director General of Fisheries Susantha Kahawatta said the ban covers coastal waters off Puttalam, Chilaw, Negombo, Colombo, Kalutara, Galle, Matara, Hambantota and Pottuvil, and would be lifted as soon as Met Department data showed conditions had improved.
The sea conditions have already proved lethal this month. Five fishermen died in weather-related incidents at sea in the days before the current advisory, and the national toll from the wider spell of severe weather stood at six dead with one missing on Tuesday.
On land, the Met Department lowered its heavy-rain threshold to 75 mm for Sabaragamuwa and the Kandy and Nuwara Eliya districts on Tuesday, the first reduction since the wet spell intensified over the weekend. The marine warning has moved in the opposite direction — conditions offshore are deteriorating while rainfall inland eases.
