

COLOMBO :Twelve people have died and two persons are missing with 17 injured due to the bad weather that has affected the country, the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said yesterday.
The adverse weather condition has affected 227 Divisional Secretariat divisions in all 24 districts of the country. Currently, 401,707 people belonging to 120,534 families are affected by the disaster. Accordingly, 345 safe centres have been built across the island, and 36,330 people belonging to 11,663 families are temporarily staying in them.
Also, 94,134 people belonging to 28,324 families are in relative houses, said the DMC. Most of the reported disaster deaths occurred in the Eastern Province, of which eight were in the Ampara district.
The prevailing turbulent weather in the country has broken 106 small tanks across the country due to heavy rains. The Vavuniya Nedunkulama dam has also broken due to incessant rains. Also, dams of 30 small tanks in the district have been broken.
With the heavy rains that fell all over the country, many paddy fields cultivated in the Maha Season this year have been damaged and destroyed. Many cultivated lands in Ampara district were flooded due to the overflow of Ampara Reservoir and Kondavatawana Reservoir. About 35,000 acres of paddy fields that were cultivated this year under the Ampara Gal-Oya project have also been destroyed by floods.
Many paddy fields in Mahaweli C region have also been destroyed due to floods. The opening of the sluice gates of the Ulhitiyawa Rathkinda Reservoir and the overflowing of the small stream, sand has been piled up about three feet high in paddy fields of Dehiattakandiya Sandunpura area with 20 hectares of paddy fields being destroyed from the floods. Also, more than 200 acres of paddy fields in the Bulankulama area in Anuradapura were also destroyed from flooding. Around 4,800 acres of paddy fileds have been fully damaged and 3,900 acres of paddy fields have been partially damaged across the country due to floods, according to the Agriculture Ministry.
Meanwhile, due to the bad weather, 102 houses have been completely damaged and 1,952 houses have been partially damaged, according to the DMC.
In the meantime, due to the turbulent nature of the sea area around the Bay of Bengal, the amount of dust particles in the atmosphere in the country has also increased remarkably. As a result, the sky above Colombo city as well as other parts of the country is seen cloudy and foggy. The air quality index in Colombo, Anuradapura, Polonnaruwa and Jaffna has exceeded the level of 150 which is harmful to the human body according to the Central Environmental Authority. Also, the air quality index in all districts except Nuwara-Eliya has exceeded 100 which is slightly harmful to the human body. Those who are having breathing difficulty issues due to this situation are advised to seek medical help.
The Railway Department stated that the night mail train running between Colombo Fort and Badulla was restricted to Bandarawela yesterday due to adverse weather conditions.
The flood warnings issued due to the rising water levels of Mundeni Aru, Mahawelia River, Heda Oya and Deduru Oya have been extended for the next 48 hours. Minor floods have been reported in Horowpathana due to a rise in the water levels of Yan Oya, and in Thanthirimale due to Malwathu Oya, and in Moragaswewa due to Deduru-Oya.
Flood alerts have been issued to Nagalagam Street (Kelani River), Thalgahagoda (Nilwala River), Peradeniya (Mahaweli River) and Dunamale (Attanagallu Oya). The Irrigation Department requested area residents and motorists to remain vigilant of floods in the vicinity of the rivers.