The Irrigation Department has warned that water levels in the Kalu Ganga and the Attanagalu Oya are rising and currently approaching minor flood level at several gauging stations, NewsFirst reported.
L.S. Suriyabandara, Director of the Hydrology Division of the Irrigation Department, said the water level of the Kalu Ganga at Ratnapura and at Millakanda, along with the level of the Attanagalu Oya at Dunamale, are nearing the minor flood threshold. Residents in low-lying areas along the two river systems have been advised to take precautions.
The river-level warning is the downstream consequence of the Met Department’s 75mm rainfall forecast for the Western and Sabaragamuwa provinces issued earlier on Saturday, and pairs with the Red sea-state advisory covering the northern and western coast. The Kalu Ganga basin has been under sustained monsoon stress this cycle: minor flood thresholds at Millakanda were last crossed during the May 23 wet-zone deluge that flooded Kalutara, and the Attanagalu Oya at the Mellawagedara bridge gauging station carried a similar warning the same week.
The Ratnapura gauge sits at the upstream end of the Kalu River system and is the early-warning indicator for the lower Kalutara floodplain, while the Attanagalu Oya at Dunamale drains the Gampaha District wet-zone catchment. The current advisory falls within the four-district NBRO landslide warning area covering Kalutara, Galle, Kegalle and Ratnapura, where saturated-slope failure risk has been elevated since Thursday.
Source: NewsFirst — Kalu Ganga and Attanagalu Oya water levels rise.
