Extreme weather hits Southern India and Sri Lanka

Don't concern yourselves with our welfare, we are currently holed up in a very comfortable, well built hotel in Negombo, an hour north of Columbo and just twenty minutes from the airport. Though we haven't heard any planes landing so far today. As you will have gathered from our previous blog, we are going a bit stir crazy. However can I reiterate, we are absolutely fine and very comfortable. Were not even sure if you will get wind of this on UK news, but we wrote it just in case and just to assure you, that everything is OK with us. Actually the rain has stopped and the trees are still but it's overcast. Around here everything appears to be going on as usual.

Anyway after a horrendous night of heavy rain and high winds, we checked on local TV to see whats happening. So our understanding is that there is an extreme weather warning in place. So far there have been several deaths on land. There are houses that have lost their roofs, trees down, land slides and flooding is blocking major roads and railway tracks, including roads into Columbo. Galla in the south west was worse hit, where four people have died. 

A senoir official is on TV questioning why fishing boats went out yesterday. He has confirmed that lots of fishing boats have capsized and fishermen are missing.

Currently the eye of the cyclone is in the Arabian Sea, off the coast of south west India. There is a second one forming in the Bay of Bengal which is expected to track west.

We are due to board a puddle jumper for the forty five minute flight from Columbo to Trivandrum on Saturday. Basically that puts us in the middle of things. So unless there is a dramatic improvement, we doubt very much if we will be flying soon. 

See article taken Accu weather report -

A newly formed depression and second brewing tropical threat will combine to threaten parts of India and Sri Lanka with flooding and mudslides into next week.

The seventh Bay of Bengal depression of the season developed near Sri Lanka on Wednesday and has produced rounds of heavy rainfall across the country and neighboring parts of southern India since early in the week.

A slow track to the west will take the depression south of India before it turns northward and moves off the coast of western India into early next week.

This track will result in daily downpours across Sri Lanka and southern India through at least Saturday.

The heaviest rain is expected across Sri Lanka and southern and central Tamil Nadu as well as southern Kerala in India.

This includes areas from Puducherry, Madurai and Kochi southward. Rainfall of 50-100 mm (2-4 inches) will be common with local amounts reaching 200 mm (8 inches).

There will be a high risk for local flash flooding along with an elevated risk for mudslides.

Lighter rainfall will expand farther north and impact locations from Chennai to Benaluru, Coimbatore and Kozhikode. 

These areas will get generally less than 50 mm (2 inches) of rainfall through Sunday.

While this first tropical threat sits over the Arabian Sea early next week, a new threat will approach Sri Lanka and eastern India.

Tropical development is possible as early as Thursday or Friday near the Andaman and Nicobar islands in the Bay of Bengal.

This potential cyclone will then have an opportunity to organize further and strengthen as it crosses the southern Bay of Bengal this weekend.

Eastern India will be at risk for impacts from the tropical cyclone as early as Monday night, with areas from Tamil Nadu to Andhra Pradesh at highest risk for flooding and damaging winds.

Depending on the exact track, flooding rainfall could extend inland across southern India or spread northward into Telangana, Chhattisgarh and Orissa later week.