Focus on Badulla: Landslides

Editors’ note: Photography and text by P.B. Gowthamam

The rains over the last couple of days have had a devastating effect on many parts of Badulla and surroundings.  It is not floods but landslides that are causing most of the damage.

The usual stream that runs through the city is brimming with water and has breached its banks in a number of locations. But the widening work that had been done after the previous floods proved to be effective in channeling the deluge without too much damage as feared. So far!

But the rain water drainage systems in the city as well as in the surrounding towns and villages are in very poor condition. As a result in most places the roads are flooded. Below are pictures from Hali-Ela where road is still under construction for long stretches.

Hundreds of land slips due to rain in the last two days are to be seen throughout the hill country and around Badulla. Many are small, some large and a few huge.

Three of the largest land slips are currently affecting hundreds of families. As we speak the land is slipping beneath their feet. Many families have been evacuated, with the most vulnerable also removing all their belongings and what ever else they can remove from their houses. The below are pictures from Badulusirigama, Badulla – one of the most affected areas. A large mass of land is slipping gradually down the hill, carrying down along with it several houses and roads.

En-route to Imbulgama, Badulla

A massive slip in Eladaluwa, Badulla