Heavy rains predicted for June

Rasika Somarathna

Weathermen warned yesterday that there was a risk of more landslides and floods as heavy rains would accompany the onset of the South West monsoon, expected to arrive either at the end of the month or early June. While predicting strong winds during the same period, the Met. Department ruled out anything even close to what happened in Myanmar emphasising that such cyclonic conditions only occurred in the upper part of the Bay of Bengal.

However Authorities did not rule out some minor indirect impact on Sri Lanka from such conditions and also they acknowledged that there was a possibility of such happenings during the monsoon season.

Initially during the onset the districts of Kegalle, Kurunegala, Colombo, Kalutara, Ratnapura and Galle would face the brunt of the rainfall and later would spread to other areas as well, Met. officers predicted.

However according to met sources the initial downpour is expected to last only for about four or five days with the weather attaining its normal monsoonal pattern with occasional showers accompanied by strong winds at times, throughout the country.

During the months of July and August the rains are expected to spread to Trincomalee and Batticaloa districts and the temperatures too are expected to remain high as the winds release a lot of energy when encountering central hills.

On the positive side paddy and tea cultivations are expected to get enough rain and during the harvesting season in September rains are expected to recede with the monsoon fading away.

The catchment areas in the central hills are expected to reach capacity levels during the period. However the weathermen admitted that their was nothing unusual and these conditions were common during the monsoonal period, but considering the figures in previous years, the amount of rain might slightly increase, Met. officers said.