The Sri Lanka Navy has placed 171 disaster relief teams on standby and deployed 14 of them as of Monday morning, as heavy rain continues across the south-west and Level 3 Red landslide warnings cover six districts.
Where the 14 teams went
The Southern Naval Command deployed five teams, all in the Galle district — two at Thawalama and one each at Hiniduma, Mapalagama and Nagoda, according to Daily Mirror, which supplies the district attribution that Hiru News omits.
The Western Naval Command deployed nine: three at Ratnapura, and two each at Nawalapitiya, Yatiyanthota and Seethawaka. Both outlets give the same figures, and both lists reconcile exactly to the stated total of 14.
The deployment map tracks the warning map
The Navy does not explain how it chose the locations, but they line up closely with the hazard bulletins issued over the weekend.
- Ratnapura, which drew the single largest deployment of three teams, is a Red-listed landslide division and a flood-risk point on the Kalu — the only place in the country currently carrying both.
- Yatiyanthota is one of five Red-listed divisions in Kegalle.
- Thawalama, which drew the largest Southern deployment, is a Level 2 landslide division and the Gin river’s flood-risk point.
- Nawalapitiya sits on the Mahaweli vigilance list and recorded 93.9 mm in the 24 hours to 6.00 a.m. Monday.
- Seethawaka lies in the Kelani basin, where the river has already reached minor flood level at Glencorse.
One gap stands out. Neluwa is the Red-listed division in Galle, and no team was placed there — the four Galle deployments are all in neighbouring divisions. Neither outlet says whether that reflects staging for access rather than exposure.
Four provinces, not two
Daily Mirror describes the units as deployed “across the Southern and Western provinces”. Its own list reaches further: the Galle teams are in the Southern Province and Seethawaka is in the Western Province, but Yatiyanthota and Ratnapura are in Sabaragamuwa and Nawalapitiya is in the Central Province. Only two of the 14 teams are actually inside the Western Province. Naval commands are defined by areas of responsibility rather than provincial boundaries, and this deployment is largely an inland, hill-country one.
The photograph issued with the Navy’s statement shows sailors loading small craft onto a lorry in heavy rain, on standing water — consistent with boats being trucked to interior towns rather than operating from the coast.
Cause
Both outlets attribute the weather to the low-pressure area in the Andaman Sea region of the Bay of Bengal, north-east of Sri Lanka — matching the Department of Meteorology’s current attribution rather than the Southwest Monsoon explanation that circulated on 20 September.
Not reported
Neither outlet says how many personnel a team contains, what triggers the remaining 157 standby teams, whether any rescue or evacuation has yet been carried out, or how long the deployment is expected to last.
