Showers or thundershowers will occur at times across the Western, Sabaragamuwa and North-Western provinces and in the Galle, Matara, Kandy and Nuwara-Eliya districts on Saturday, with fairly heavy rainfall of around 75mm likely at some places, the Department of Meteorology said.
The forecast carries several spells of showers in the Mannar and Anuradhapura districts and warns of strong winds of about 40–50 kmph over the western slopes of the central hills, the Northern and North-Central provinces, and the Hambantota and Trincomalee districts, Ada Derana reported. Fairly strong winds of about 30–40 kmph are expected at times over other parts of the island.
The Department asked the general public to take adequate precautions to minimise damage from temporary localised strong winds and lightning during thundershowers. The advisory builds on the Amber strong-wind advisory in force since June 12, reflecting the same south-west monsoon system that has saturated catchments across the wet-zone interior.
The 75mm threshold is at the level where the National Building Research Organisation has previously activated landslide alerts, with embedded clusters in Sabaragamuwa Province posting the highest cumulative risk. The Western slopes wind window also raises the prospect of falling trees and outage incidents on the Castlereigh–Wimalasurendra hydropower corridor, where the central-hills wind stress historically translates into transmission-line trips.
Householders along the Western and Sabaragamuwa wet-zone catchments and the lower Kalu and Kelani river basins should remain alert to localised flash flooding and saturated-slope failures during the next 24-hour window, with the Ambatale flood-embankment repairs reported on Thursday underlining the ongoing monsoon-cycle pressure on key infrastructure assets.
Source: Fairly heavy rainfall expected in parts of the island today — Ada Derana, June 13.
