Naval and fishing communities working the sea areas from Hambantota to Pottuvil have been urged to remain vigilant, with rough conditions and strong winds expected, the Daily Mirror reported.
Those waters may turn rough at times, with strong gusty winds reaching 50 to 60 kmph, according to the latest advisory.
Waves of two to three metres — at sea, not at the shore
Wave heights across a much longer stretch of coast — from Chilaw to Pottuvil, running south via Galle, Matara and Hambantota — could rise to between 2.0 and 3.0 metres.
Authorities stressed a distinction that is easy to lose in a forecast: the figure describes wave height in the sea, not the height of waves arriving at the shore. The warning is aimed at vessels working offshore rather than at people on the beach.
There is also a possibility of seawater inundating low-lying coastal areas from Beruwala to Matara via Galle.
Naval and fishing communities operating in the affected waters have been asked to exercise caution.
The same stretch, the same gusts, eleven days on
The warning repeats an advisory issued for exactly the same stretch of coast on 1 September, which also put gusts at 50 to 60 kmph off Hambantota to Pottuvil. The south-eastern seaboard has now drawn two separate warnings inside a fortnight.
What is new in this advisory is its reach. The 1 September notice was confined to the Hambantota–Pottuvil sea areas; this one extends the two-to-three-metre wave band the full length of the western and southern coasts up to Chilaw, and adds a coastal inundation risk between Beruwala and Matara that the earlier warning did not carry.
Sri Lanka’s marine advisories are issued by the Department of Meteorology, which grades them amber or red according to severity. The Daily Mirror’s report does not name the issuing body or state which grade has been applied — the two details that would tell fishing communities how far the restriction goes, and whether small craft are being advised to stay in port outright rather than simply to take care.
Not reported
The report gives no validity period for the advisory, no expiry time, and no indication of what is driving the conditions. It does not say whether the Department of Fisheries has issued any accompanying instruction to multi-day or one-day boats, and does not report whether any harbour has restricted departures. LankaNewz will update this report if a grade or duration is published.
