12 DEAD, 75,241 IN 16 DISTRICTS AFFECTED

12 deaths have been reported in 5 districts due to adverse weather effects, the Disaster Management Centre said yesterday.

According to the Disaster Situation Report issued by the DMC, 75,241 people from 18,736 families have been affected by flash floods mainly in 16 districts, including Southern, Western, North-western and Sabaragamuwa Provinces during this period.

Eight individuals including two in Galle and six in Kalutara were killed by cutting failures, while another two in Ratnapura and Colombo were killed by drowning incidents.

Two individuals in Kegalle and Ratnapura were reported to have died in tree falling incidents while another 18 were injured due to adverse weather impacts. At least 50 houses had been completely damaged due to strong winds, while 2,635 houses were partially damaged.

A total of 8,234 individuals in 1,859 families were temporary sheltered in 14 safety centres around the island.

The heavy rainfall together with strong winds that occurred across several parts of Sri Lanka between 01 to 11 October 2018, has had an impact on 109 divisional secretariats in 16 districts.

Kalutara, Galle, Colombo and Gampaha are identified as heavily affected districts counting 8,021 people and over 1,797 families are displaced.

DMC said that river water levels at many stations are gradually decreasing, as the rainfall recorded in the catchment areas during the last 24 hours reduced to some extent. National Disaster Relief Services Centre (NDRSC) has provided cash allocations of Rs. 28.54 million to address the immediate needs of affected population.

Meanwhile, 670 military and police officials including 19 officers were mobilized for search and rescue operations. As a result of Tropical Cyclone “Titly” heavy rains had occurred in the South Western and Sabaragamuwa areas.