2018 Northern Province floods in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

caused from heavy rainfall in five main districts of Northern Province including

Jaffna Jaffna (, ; , ) is the capital city of the Northern Province, Sri Lanka, Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a Jaffna Peninsula, peninsula of the same name. With a population o ...

Mannar Mannar may refer to the following places: India * Mannar, Alappuzha, a town in Chengannur Taluk, Kerala Sri Lanka * Mannar District, one of 25 districts in Sri Lanka ** Mannar Island, an island within the district ** Mannar Bridge, a bridge conne ...

Mullaithivu Mullaitivu (; ) is the main town of Mullaitivu District, situated on the north-eastern coast of Northern Province, Sri Lanka. A largely fishing settlement, the town in the early twentieth century grew as an anchoring harbour of the small sailing ...

Vavuniya Vavuniya (, ) is a city in Vavuniya District in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. The municipality is administered by an Municipal Council. The town has been known since ancient times, but being a heavily forested area, less than 100,000 people ...

and

Kilinochchi Kilinochchi (; ) is the main town of Kilinochchi District, Northern Province of Sri Lanka. Kilinochchi is situated at the A9 road some south-east of Jaffna. It was the administrative center and de facto capital of the LTTE (Tamil Tigers) until ...

beginning around 22 December 2018 on a full moon Poya Day. As of 22 December according to Disaster Management Centre (DMC), more than 45000 people from mere nearly 14000 families were reported to have been affected. According to the reports two casualties have been reported so far due to the flash floods. The floods receded in all 5 main districts of the Northern Province with significant damages to agricultural crops. As of 25 December 2018 (eve of Christmas), over 75000 people have been affected by the torrential rainfall and flash floods in the Northern part of the island. More than 11000 people are staying in 35 evacuation centres. The sluice gates of Iranamadu Tank were opened and the people near the Iranmadu area were safely evacuated. It was also revealed that the overflow of recently renovated Moragahakanda Dam which was reopened by President

Maithripala Sirisena Maithripala Yapa Sirisena (; ; born 3 September 1951) is a Sri Lankan politician who served as the seventh president of Sri Lanka from 9 January 2015 to 18 November 2019. Sirisena is Sri Lanka's first president from the North Central Province, S ...

was also linked to the course of floods in the Northern Province.

Background

Sri Lanka is reported to have been identified as the second most vulnerable nation in the world to confront climatic changes due to the effects of global warming. The floods caused in Northern Province is the second worst natural disaster to have occurred in Sri Lanka in the month of December, after the horrible tragic effect of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami on Sri Lanka.

References

{{Natural disasters in Sri Lanka Floods in Sri Lanka Sri Lanka floods December 2018 in Sri Lanka History of Northern Province, Sri Lanka 2018 disasters in Sri Lanka