PROBLEMS RELATED

FLOOD IN
RATNAPURA DISTRICT

GROUP No: 18
 CONTENTS
 What is flooding
 Reasons for flood
 Flood risk in country
 Why Rathnapura
 Side Effects
 Solutions


WHAT IS FLOODING
REASONS FOR FLOOD
 Heavy rain
 Rivers is floating through cities
 Unplanned drain water systems
 surrounded by mountains
 Filling valleys for human needs
 Taking sand from rivers
 Mining
 Tea plantation
 Unplanned development projects
  Flood  Hazard Map
FLOOD RISK IN COUNTRY
 Heavy rainfall in the Eastern and South-Western slopes is a
principal cause of the flood risk.
 the drainage and topography of certain districts and land use
patterns are also significant factors.
 The Western slopes receive rainfall in both Maha (September to
January) and Yala (May-August) seasons, and is prone to
flooding in these periods.
 The Eastern slopes receive most of the rainfall during the Maha
season (September to January).
 The District of Vavuniya shows a higher flood probability due to
cyclonic storms.

WHY RATHNAPURA?
 This is the place where flooding appear mostly
in sri Lanka
 frequent flooding, landslides, soil erosion and
land subsidence due to gem mining, pollution
and contamination of water supplies.
 Annually, two major floods occur in Ratnapura–
during May-June and September-October.
High rainfall and flooding of the Kalu river
often cause damage in the central business
district as well as outlying areas. Large floods
usually occur once in every 8 to 10 years. Big
flood occurred in 1979, 1984 and recently in
May 2003
 WHY RATHNAPURA?  Cont..

 Ratnapura town is located at the

confluence of Wey (Ganga) River
 with Kalu (Ganga) River. Since both
catchments consist of areas
 with high slopes, the city gets flooded
within a duration of 24 hrs.
 in an event of high rainfall within the upper
catchment area.
Rating Curve of Kalu Ganga
at Ratnapura

CURVE
DAMAGE TO LIVES & PROPERTIES IN
2008
 SIDE EFFECTS
 LAND SLIDE
 Disease
 Displacement
 Sanitary facilities
 Diarrheal diseases and viral flu
 diarrheal and amoebic diseases including
dengue and Japanese encephalitis.
 school uniforms and text books children
affected by the floods
 LANDSLIDES
 the increasing number of landslides, was due to
lack of proper planning in developing landslide
prone areas, “the authorities should make proper
plans, when they implement development plans
in sensitive areas
 When people are involved in indigenous
agricultural methods (Hen govithen), the bare
land is exposed in slopes and the water is
absorbed
 when it rains heavily, the bare land would not be
able to withstand a large amount of water.
Therefore, landslides occur.
 they do their development programs in sensitive
areas, but the majority of them do not follow the
recommendations
SOLUTION FOR FLOOD

 Early Warning and Evacuation System

 Installing pumping stations (there are 10 on
the GinGanga flood plains and three on
Nilwala)
 And erecting concrete walls on either side
of the river beds along flood prone areas.


 RELOCATION OF EFFECTED
FAM ILIES

 Identification of suitable alternative lands.

 Demarcation of land.
 Selection of families for allocation of land.
 Financial Assistance to Build Houses.
 Technical assistance.
 Labour input.
Setting up Flood Forecasting and
Early Warning Systems for Kalu River
basin
 A flood simulation model has been
developed to predict water level along the
river stretch from Ratnapura to Kalutara
for different water flows in the river.

Early Warning and
Evacuation
Early Warning and
Evacuation
To contribute to the mitigation
of flood disasters

 utilizing satellite, GIS and information network
technologies as much as possible,
 enhancing the development of the basis for
sharing information on flood risks and disasters
among national and international organization
in relation to flood management,
 and realizing the above concepts on the Sentinel
Asia network system

 SUMMARY

 What is flooding
 Reasons for flood
 Flood risk in country
 Why Rathnapura
 Side Effects
 Solutions
