Adverse weather claims lives of two people, causes swollen rivers, flooding and threats of landslides in Sri Lanka #SevereWeather #Flooding #Landslides #SriLanka
Heavy rains accompanied by high winds battered eight districts of Sri Lanka since Friday bringing flash floods that claimed the lives of two people in Kegalle district.
The Disaster management Center said 2,668 people were affected by the heavy rain and floods and one person in Kegalle died of slope cutting failure and the other in Galigamuwa drowned.
The Disaster Management Center says water levels of many rivers in the island have reached to spill level due to heavy rain.
The National Building Research Organization (NBRO) meanwhile, has issued landslide risk warnings for the districts of Galle, Matara, Matale, Ratnapura, Kalutara, Kegalle, Colombo, Nuwara Eliya, Kurunegala and Kandy.
People living in landslide hazard zones in the Divisional Secretariat Divisions of Baddegama, Galle district, Pelmadulla, Ratnapura, Elapatha, Nivithigala, Kalawana and Kiriella in Ratnapura District, Polgahawala and Mawathagama, Kurunegala District, Bulathkohupitiya, Warakapola, Rambukkana, Galigamuwa, Kegalle, Kegalle district and Ambangagakoralaya in the Nuwara Eliya District, where the rainfall exceeded 100 mm in the past 24 hours, have been landslide hazardous warnings requesting to evacuate to safe areas in case of further rain.
The NBRO has warned that landslides, block collapses and rock fall would occur in areas where rainfall exceeded 75 mm during the past twenty four hours.
The Disaster Management Center urged the public living in flood-prone areas to take measures to safeguard the lives and property and evacuate before floods occur, especially because it is necessary to follow the instructions given by the Ministry of Health due to the existing COVID-19 epidemic threat.
The Disaster Management Center also urges the public to take action to ensure that school children’s books and stationery are kept safe from flooding and to constantly alert the public on the hazardous conditions that may occur.
The people living in low lying areas closed to basins of Mee Oya, Deduru Oya, Attanagalu Oya, Kelani, Kalu, Bentara, Gin and Nilwala rivers, Kirama Oya and Uruboku Oya have been advised to be vigilant on the rising water levels.
Meanwhile, power supply in many areas in the Kegalle, Kurunegala, Galle, Matara and Ratnapura districts has been disrupted due to gale force winds. Many power lines and utility posts have been snapped by the wind. About 45,000 persons have been affected due to power failure.
Courtesy of colombopage.com
100,000 Affected by #Floods in #Kenya Says #UN
Floods have blocked roads in floods Tana River County, Kenya, October 2019. Photo: Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS)
Flooding across Kenya in the month of October has left at least 29 people dead and affected more than 101,000, according to the UN.
In a report of 30 October, 2019, the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said heavy rain since the start of the short rains season in early October has led to riverine and flash floods, rock falls, mudslides and landslides.
More than 101,000 people have been affected, mainly in the north-eastern, central, and coastal regions, according to the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS). Wajir County has been particularly hard-hit, with at least 43,000 people affected. Other affected counties include Marsabit, Mandera, Turkana, Elgeyo Marakwet, Kitui, Meru, Kajiado, Kwale, Nandi, Mombasa, Murang’a and Busia.
The KRCS has confirmed that at least 14,000 people have been displaced from their homes in low-lying areas where rivers have burst their banks.
At least 29 flood-related deaths have been reported and the death toll and number of people displaced is expected to rise in the days ahead as further information is received and verified from affected areas.
Nearly 400 hectares of farmland has been damaged and 21,710 livestock washed away, according to the KRCS, severely impacting livelihoods, including in areas already facing challenges due to drought.
Furthermore flooding has damaged or destroyed key infrastructure, including roads, bridges, schools and health facilities.
The UN report said: “At least 52 schools are inaccessible in Mandera and Wajir counties and some 14 health facilities cannot be reached in Mandera, Wajir and Marsabit. Many parts of Mombasa County have reported power outages caused by fallen electricity pylons or water-soaked transformers. Two bridges, including one linking Diani and Lungalunga at Kinondoni and the main bridge linking Tanzania and Kenya at Mihogoni trading centre, have been badly damaged. In Lodwar town and surrounding areas in Turkana County, nine out of 12 water boreholes were destroyed, impacting about 70,000 people.”
The rains -driven by the strong positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD)- are expected to continue in the days and weeks ahead, with most parts of the country likely to experience above average rainfall until early December 2019, according to the Kenyan Meteorological Department.
Courtesy of floodlist.com/
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