The National Building Research Organisation has extended its Level 1 landslide warning — “Yellow, be vigilant” — for four districts, citing the continuing rainy weather, the Daily Mirror reported on Friday night.
The warning now runs until 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, 31 October.
Where it applies
The alert covers 13 Divisional Secretariat Divisions:
- Ratnapura District — Ayagama, Opanayake, Elapatha, Kuruwita, Pelmadulla and Ratnapura
- Kegalle District — Aranayaka, Yatiyantota, Bulathkohupitiya and Mawanella
- Kandy District — Udunuwara and Yatinuwara
- Nuwara Eliya District — Ambagamuwa Korale
Level 1 is the lowest of the NBRO’s three warning levels. It asks residents of slope areas to stay alert to changing ground conditions rather than to evacuate, and it is normally the stage at which people are advised to watch for new cracks in ground or walls, tilting trees or posts, sudden changes in well water levels, and water seeping from slopes.
Context
This is an extension rather than a new alert, which means the ground in these divisions has already been through a sustained wet spell. Several of the named divisions have featured in this month’s weather damage — Mawanella and the Hatton area saw landslides and estate flooding in late October, and the Disaster Management Centre counted more than 10,000 people affected by adverse weather in the same period.
Saturated slopes need less additional rain to fail than dry ones, which is why a repeat warning over the same ground carries more weight than a first-day alert at the same level.
Not reported
The filing does not give rainfall figures or thresholds, does not say how long the warning has now been running in total, and does not report any new landslide incidents or displacement within the covered divisions. It does not state whether the warning is expected to be extended again beyond Saturday, or whether any division has been escalated above Level 1.
