Severe floods triggered by torrential rains have killed 24 people and affected over 524,000 in south western Sri Lanka as the island continued to experience unprecedented levels of rain for the seventh consecutive day.

Over 17,000 people have been evacuated and are living in temporary camps setup by the government in Gampaha and Colombo districts. The latest reports also indicate that a state of emergency has been declared in the Nuwara Eliya district in the hill-country, warning of more rainfall and possible landslides in the coming days.

Damage to property is also on the rise with 260 homes reported destroyed and over 1,000 damaged. Several key roads remain unusable except for heavy vehicles.

Nikulas Napolean of Pamunugama said that this was the worst flood in this area since the 1950s. “Over the last couple of years we have experienced similar rainfall, but we were able to continue using the Pamunugama Road. But this time we had to use an alternative road because the road is five feet under water and no vehicles are allowed to take the road,” he said.

World Vision commenced an emergency response on Wednesday night (May 19) by distributing cooked meals to 2,500 people. Efforts were scaled up yesterday with over 6,500 cooked food packets distributed to affected families in Wattala, Ja-Ela, Kandana and Pamunugama areas.

Ajith Gomis, manager of World Vision’s Negombo Area Development Programme, said that World Vision is working closely with the relevant Divisional Secretariats to assess the needs of the affected communities. “Dry rations distributed by the government with the assistance of WFP had reached only 5,000 people, but there are over 50,000 people who have been displaced in the Wattala area alone and the need for food is critical at this point”, he said.

World Vision will continue the distribution of cooked food packets for at least three days, while it is also hoping to provide 5,000 litres of potable water per day.

The south west of Sri Lanka, together with the central hill-country, is commonly known as the “wet zone”, receiving an average annual rainfall of 2,500 mm. Much of this falls between May and September, brought on by the Southwest Monsoon.

Ursula Kumari is in charge of a community cooking centre. As the water levels continued to rise, several families started gathering to her house and it was soon transformed into a community cooking centre.

“We started cooking dry rations received by the government yesterday. With flood water reaching almost every corner, people have no place to live or cook. World Vision’s distribution of cooked food packets is very helpful at this stage for families who have left everything,” she said.