Landslide early warnings have been issued for nine areas across five districts as heavy rain continues, with the alert running from 4.00pm on Tuesday until 4.00pm on Wednesday.

The warnings were issued by the National Building Research Organisation (NBRO), the Daily Mirror reported on Tuesday evening.

Amber — Level 2 (Warning)

Nine areas were placed on the higher of the two alert levels:

Yellow — Level 1 (Watch)

A wider set of divisions was placed on watch, adding two districts that do not appear on the amber list:

Context

The warning lands in a prolonged wet spell. The Met Department’s Tuesday forecast carried falls above 75mm at some places across several provinces, and reservoirs have been spilling for more than a week — eight gates are open at Deduru Oya and the Irrigation Department has issued a Kala Oya warning at Rajanganaya. NBRO had already extended warnings to four districts on 30 October.

Rambukkana, on the Kegalle watch list, is on the stretch of the Main Line where a tree fell on an evening train on Tuesday.

A note on the agency’s name

The Daily Mirror filing names the issuing body as the “National Building Research Institute (NBRI)”. The agency responsible for landslide early warnings in Sri Lanka is the National Building Research Organisation (NBRO), which is the form this desk’s earlier reporting uses and the form used here.

Not reported

The filing does not give rainfall thresholds that would trigger an upgrade, name any evacuation order, or report damage or casualties in the listed divisions. No second verified newsroom had carried this specific warning bulletin at the time of writing.

Update, 4 November: a fresh 24-hour bulletin, and Badulla and Kandy step down

NBRO issued a new landslide early warning on Wednesday covering six districts, valid from 4.00pm on Wednesday until 4.00pm on Thursday, Hiru News reported. This supersedes the bulletin above, which expired at 4.00pm on Wednesday.

The warnings were issued on account of the adverse weather affecting the island.

Amber — Level 2, now four areas in three districts

Yellow — Level 1

Divisions in Badulla, Kandy, Kegalle, Matale, Nuwara Eliya and Ratnapura were placed on watch:

What changed

The four amber areas are unchanged from Tuesday’s bulletin — Kotapola, Nildandahinna, Kalawana and Godakawela were on amber then and remain so. What has changed is that the five areas in Badulla and Kandy that carried amber warnings on Tuesday — Ella, Haldummulla, Haputale, Udunuwara and Udadumbara — have been stepped down to yellow.

That is a narrowing of the highest alert level to the southern and Sabaragamuwa hill country, not a general easing: Kurunegala has dropped off the list, but the yellow watch has otherwise broadened, and Matale remains on it.

Still unreported

The Wednesday bulletin again gives no rainfall thresholds, no evacuation orders and no damage or casualty figures for the listed divisions. The Ratnapura yellow-level division list was truncated in the available copy and is not reproduced in full above. No second verified newsroom had carried the Wednesday bulletin at the time of writing.