6 November 2023 09:44 am Views - 217
By Dayaratne Embogama, Dileep Jayasekara and Shane Seneviratne
Rajangana and Angamuwa tanks are spilling over due to the heavy rainfall experiened in the Anuradhapura district at present and eight spill gates in the former and two in the latter were opened last morning.
Anuradhapura Zonal Director of Irrigation Jayantha De Silva said 10,850 acre ft of water per second from Rajangana reservoir and 4100 acre ft per second from Angamuwa reservoir was being released to Kala Oya.
He said several medium scale tanks were also spilling over.
Zonal Director of Irrigation said if heavy rainfall persisted , they would be compelled to open the other spill gates in the Rajangana tank and warned the people living in the low lying areas of the Kala Oya to be cautious of the possible danger of floods.
Meanwhile, Uda Walawe reservoir had spilled over ending the prolonged drought. Residential Manager of the reservoir Tilak Ranasinghe said three spill gates were opened to release excess water at a speed of 7000 acre ft into the Walawe ganga.
He warned residents living on the banks of the Walawe ganga to be cautious when using the river.
The Residential Manager said the reservoir with a total capacity of 217,000 acre feet had dwindled to 3000 acre feet during the drought creating hardships to more than 100,000 farmer families for want of adequate irrigation facilities.
A woman had received serious injuries when a mound of earth rolled down a hill and fell on a boutique at Siyambalagastenna in Rambukwella during heavy rain experienced in the Theldeniya area on Saturday night (04).
The Theldeniya police said the deceased R.M.Nirmala Ratnayaka (36) was mother of two children. Kandy District Asst. Director of Disaster Management Indika Ranaweera said two individuals had died and four others received serious injuries over the last three days due to natural disasters caused by inclement weather being experienced at present in the Central hills. He said an effective mechanism had been worked out to identify the endangered locations in view of the heavy rainfall being experienced in the Central hills at present.