Vulnerability

assessment
Flooding of Kelani river
 Introduction
• Colombo District is one of the most vulnerable districts in Sri Lanka according
to the statistics provided by the Ministry of disaster management. That is
because the river “Kelani Ganga” flows through Colombo district. Due to
heavy rains, the river overflows and inundates most of the district causing
damages to economy of that area.

• The downstream low-lying regions of the Kelani River, including some areas
in the Districts of Colombo and Gampaha, Sri Lanka, frequently face severe
inundations due to extreme rainfalls in the upper basin.

• The Kelani River Basin area covers seven districts, 38 divisional secretariat
divisions (DSDs), and 1,091 grama niladhari divisions (GNDs), on 234,010
hectares of land.
Kelani river basin
 Kelani river basin cont...........
The Kelani river basin which is located entirely in the wet zone of
the country has catchment area of 2,292 square kilo meters and
annual run off of 3,417 million meter cube.
The river bed level at mouth is minus five meter MSL and at
Hanwella is zero meter MSL.
The upper part of the basin (upstream of Hanwella) is
mountainous while the lower part (below Hanwella), has plain
features.
The basin receives about 2400 mm of average annual rainfall
and the river carries average flow of about 800-1500 m3/s during
monsoon periods and some 20-25 m³/s in the dry season.
 Flooding history of Kelani river
Nagalagam Street - exceeding its threshold water level by 22
times from 1962 to 2016,
Hanwella - exceeding its threshold water level by 33 times
from 1978 to 2016
Glencourse - exceeding its threshold water level by 33 times
from 1960 to 2016

During the 2016 flood event, 228817 affected people, seven

deaths and one missing person were reported.
 Importance of vulnerability assessment in flooding
Understanding and assessing vulnerability is essential for developing effective
flood risk management strategies. why vulnerability analysis is important in
flood risk management:
• Identifying High-Risk Areas
• Targeting Mitigation Measures
• Enhancing Emergency Preparedness
• Engaging Stakeholders
• Assessing Climate Change Impacts
• Promoting Resilience
• Supporting Decision Makingng .
Flood vunmerability index indicators and state of Kelani
river
FIV indicator state of Kelani river
frequency of heavy rain fall 2.4
Avarage slope of the basin 2.9
Urbanized area ratio in basin 1.4
TV penetration rate 114
Literacy rate 92.7
Population rate under poverty 13.8
years sustaining healty life 74.0
population in flood area 0.07
Infant mortality rate 10.9
Investment amount for structural countermeasure 0.09
state of non-structural countermeasure 1.3
Flood exposure
 Kelani river flood level

Flood level Height of the water level

minor 5.0 - 7.0 ft
major 7.0 - 9.0 ft
dangerous 9.0 - 12.0 ft
critical > 12.0 ft
 Affected areas
• The flood affected Grama Niladhari (GN) divisions
includes:
• Kolonnawa GND - Wellampitiya, Kelanimulla, Gotatuwa,
Udumulla North
• Kaduwela GN D – Walpola, Kaduwela, Mahadeniya,
Rangala, Welivita, Malabe West, Pahala Bomiriya,
Ihala Bomiriya
• Gampaha GN divisions - Gampaha, Biyagama, Dompe ,
Jaela, Diulapitiya
Responsible parties
 Emergency
• property losses
• peoples lost there settlements and working placess
• thread to life
• economic losses
Lower Kelani River basin faces different problems with floods that are expected to get worse by further
with wetland reduction and climate change. Moreover, it has experienced that frequent flooding in the
lower kelani river basin occur due to the shrinking of open spaces, illegal constructions and lack of suitable
waste disposal sites.
Reasons for recent floods;
• unauthorized settlements established in Kelani River floodplain
• a significant proportion of natural floodplain in Kelani River basin have been converted into human
settlements.
• improper and illegal constructions.
• barricade natural water flows
• dumping waste in to the drainage cannels, backwater buildup in the main canal system, lack of regular
maintenance of the drainage system and illegal structures in wetland reservation and encroachment of
crown and marginal lands
 Search/Rescue
• Tri Forces are fully engaged in search and rescue, and
evacuation missions as well as distributing relief items
to those people still trapped by the flood waters, and
the Sri Lankan Army are working to recover the bodies
of those missing in the Aranayake landslide. Local
organisations, faith groups, youth groups and
businesses are actively involved in the provision of aid.
Priority needs are for WASH, health, shelter and food
assistance, and current requests include the provision
of emergency items including clothing, water
purification tablets, temporary latrines, hygiene and
 Relief activities
• Provide safe, dry shelter until families can return home.
• Serve water and hot meals. ...
• Ensure people with disabilities get the help they need.
• Provide first aid. ...
• Distribute clean up supplies like mops, gloves and tarps.
• Assess damage in impacted neighborhoods.
• Prevention of Disease and Disability
• Repairing Vital Services e.g. Telecommunications,
Transport
 Recovery and development

Early Recovery Medium to Long-Term Recovery

In recovery, the affected population is in a more During medium to long-term recovery, the work of
stable period of transition. building permanent physical structures to replace
They have a place to get food and water and a tents, trailers, or plywood houses begins, as does
temporary or transitional shelter that can restoration of social structures.
withstand wind and rain. As permanent housing is being rebuilt, the social
They can go about their daily lives, beginning to fabric of communities is strengthened.
resume some kind of normal existence. Those Children are returning to school buildings.
affected may not have yet recovered fully, but Adults have renewed opportunities to improve their
they have begun to adapt to a “new normal.” livelihoods and restore their family economies.
Early recovery can last any number of weeks or
months—even years.
While the phases from relief to recovery may
follow a similar pattern, the timeline for how
quickly a particular community follows this path
may depend on its initial vulnerability, access to
resources, adaptability, and other considerations.
 Recovery and development cont.......

• Community development phase, livelihoods, quality of

life, and access to education and health care are
priorities.
• Increasing access to basic health care and providing a
forum for behavioral change.
• Livelihood strengthening involve training a group of
women on microfinance and providing them with a
seed grant rather than simply a cash hand-out.
 Rehabitation
• The Metro Colombo Urban Development Project is helping reduce the risk and
impacts of flooding while making the city more livable and competitive by
making sound investments in public spaces, wetlands, and infrastructure.
• Improve and maintain infrastructure and services through large-scale
demonstration investments.
• Rehabilitation and management of street and drainage infrastructure including
canals and flood gates.
• Local public facilities and other urban services have also been improved
• coordinate the infrastructure improvements with improved access and livability
interventions, providing a higher quality of life through increased public space
for the residents, such as protecting wetlands coupled with providing access
and education, creating bicycle paths, and rehabilitating parks and the town
square
 Preparedness
• Early warning and evaluation (EWE) system planning
• Establish Hydrological Information System with meteo-hydro
monitoring
• Intra-Governmental Network was also established for information sharing
• Establishment of Flood Management Division
• Implementation of Continuous and Repeated Disaster Management
Activity
• Capacity Enhancement of Local Level Government Organizations
• Preparation and Consolidation of the Information related to Disaster
Management Activities and its Sharing
• Focus on Disaster Forecast and Adaptation of Climate Change
 Education and training
• Seminar and Workshop
• Counterpart Meetings
• Capacity Development Activity for Early Warning and
Evacuation
• Overseas Training in Japan
• Promotion of Public Awareness through School Activities
for Disaster Reduction
 Social awareness
• Establishment of Pilot Communities.

• Community Participatory Workshops

(First Community
Workshop- february 2007)

• Establishment of G.N. level

disaster management committee
 Social awareness cont..................
• Preparation for Evacuation Drill.
• Wide Dissemination of Early Warning Information to Community Members (Temple bells, mosque
speakers, or sirens)
• Training Program for Government Officers in DS Offices and Community Leaders of Pilot
Communities
• Public Awareness is one of the important pillars of the DMC activities. The 4th Draft of National
• Disaster Management Plan states that training programs for enhancing public awareness should
be
• provided for the following target audiences. The trainings are not scheduled as a regular program
at this moment.
(a) DMC staff and affiliated members
(b) Technical personnel and professionals of different categories
(c) G.N.s
(d) Community at G.N. division level
(e) School teachers
 Flood mitigation - flood bunds
• Flood bunds were constructed in 1930 to provide flood protection to Colombo city
and Kelani city on Southern side & Northern side of Kelani Ganga respectively.
• Southern side flood bund is to protect 12 feet Critical flood.
• But Northern side flood bund was built to protect 9 feet Dangerous flood.
• The flood bund on Southern side is railway tract from the Colombo Harbour to
Kolonnawa to transport oil and this flood bund is not close river bank, not parallel
to river and therefore about 2000 Hectares of valuable lands now unprotected
and urbanized partly.
• The Northern side flood bund is between Peliyagoda to Talwatte with length of
7.5 km and top level has been risen assame as Southern side flood bund in 1990
to 2004.
 Flood mitigation - flood bunds cont........
• In order to control of inundation of the small areas in above upper
reaches along river bank during minor flood, about 42 minor flood
protection (MFP) schemes were constructed by Irrigation
Department:
– northern side - to protect Senasumgoda, Pugoda, Nikawela,
Modarakada, Yattowita, Kadatiyawatta, Moraela, GontotaEla
– southern side - Ambatale, Kelanimulla, Sedawatta
The flood higher water level in Kelani Ganga is not allowing these
local drainages flow into the river. These bunds are designed to
accommodate 200 mm of daily rain fall as it was felt sufficient at
that time.
 Flood mitigation cont...
In normal situations;
• The river stages and the rainfall of key stations of these
rivers are
monitored continuously.
• Hourly data is recorded.
• Data are sent 2 times per day to Hydrology branch
 Flood mitigation projects
• Phase II of the Kelani Basin Flood Risk Mitigation Project,
at a cost of $169 million, was aimed at reducing flood
risks in the lower Kelani Basin from Hanwella to the river
mouth

• Phase III of the basin flood risk mitigation and reservoir

project, at a cost of $ 295 million, was planned to reduce
flood risks in the upstream Kelani and lower Mundeni
Basins
 Recomendations
• Early implementation of Urgent Works
• Availability of Flood Retention Volume in Proposed
Retarding Basin
• Importance of Non-structural Measures
• Urgent Rehabilitation Works of Existing Structures
• Study on New Pumping Station