Water levels in several of Sri Lanka’s main rivers remain high after heavy rain, but no river is at risk of developing into a flood situation, the Department of Irrigation said on Wednesday.
Director Engineer L.S. Sooriyabandara told Hiru News that several main river basins had received significant rainfall over the previous 24 hours.
A step down from Tuesday
The statement marks an easing from the department’s position a day earlier. On Tuesday it issued alerts for the Maguru Ganga and the Attanagalu Oya, the Daily Mirror reported, after heavy rainfall across several parts of the country.
The department’s river and rainfall monitoring report for Tuesday found most major basins at normal levels, with the Maguru Ganga and Attanagalu Oya at alert status. The highest 24-hour rainfall was 131.7mm at Glencourse, measured across Irrigation Department and Ceylon Electricity Board stations.
The Daily Mirror report urged people in low-lying areas to watch for changes in river levels, particularly where alerts had been issued.
Wednesday’s statement does not say whether the two alerts have been withdrawn. It says only that no river currently shows a flood risk — which is consistent with the alerts remaining in place at a precautionary level, since an alert is not itself a flood warning.
More rain is forecast
The Department of Meteorology expects intermittent showers or thundershowers in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central and Southern provinces, with some locations receiving fairly heavy falls of about 75mm. Showers or thundershowers are also expected after 1.00 p.m. in the Uva, Eastern and North Central provinces and the Mullaitivu district. The department has urged the public to guard against temporary strong winds and lightning.
The rain is concentrated in the west and south. It does not reach the dry-zone districts carrying the drought burden, where 163,869 people across eight districts remain affected by the El Niño dry spell — the two weather emergencies are running side by side in different parts of the country.
Not reported
Hiru does not name the rivers running high, give any water-level readings, or say whether Tuesday’s alerts on the Maguru Ganga and Attanagalu Oya have been lifted. It gives no rainfall figures of its own for the 24 hours it describes.
Neither report says how long high levels are expected to persist, whether any reservoir spill gates have been opened, or whether the rain has made a measurable difference to national reservoir storage, which stood at 33.6 percent of effective capacity in the most recent figures.
