Southwest monsoon gets active with bountiful rain

• 75mm of rain expected in some areas during the coming days

By Yohan Perera   

Southwest Monsoon is expected to get active once again  during the coming days, Director General Department of Meteorology  Athula Karunanayake said yesterday.

Mr. Karunanayake told the media that there would be heavy rains  during the early hours in the morning and during the night time during  the coming days as it is going to be the pattern of the southwest  monsoon. Fair weather is expected during noon hours.   

He said 75 mm of rain are expected in Western, Sabaragamuwa and Southern Provinces while a few bouts of rain are  expected in North Central Provinces.   

Sri Lanka started experiencing southwest monsoon rains end  May this year where around 30 persons were killed while 93,770 houses  were damaged. The rains lasted till the first week of June. The monsoon  became less active during the latter half of June. South West monsoon  usually last till September according to the Department of Meteorology.     

The Department of Agriculture in its advisory report said  above normal rainfall is expected within the month of July and August  this year over Western, Southern, Sabaragamuwa, Central, Uva Province and  Puttalam District. However, the report said proper water management  practices were carried out during the beginning of the Yala season and  that it helped to complete a successful season and secure a successful  Maha season of 2024/2025. Field crop damages have been reported from  Galle, Colombo, Puttalam, Kurunegala, Matara, Kalutara and Ratnapura  Districts due to heavy rains in the recent past.    Meanwhile, according to the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB)  data, a greater percentage of power has been generated from hydropower.  Accordingly, 17.78 gigawatts of power was generated from major hydropower projects and 3.6 gigawatts was generated from mini hydropower  projects. 

Some 12.79 GWh of power has been generated from CEB thermal  power and a further 3.56 GWh were generated from thermal oil plants. The  rest were from solar and wind power. The same scenario is expected for a few  more weeks.