It was revealed that no institution has conducted a dedicated census to determine how many families are settled in the floodplains along the rivers in Sri Lanka.
Although the Irrigation Department has conducted a preliminary survey of the families living in the river valleys using Google Maps, it has not yet been completed. According to this survey, about 50,000 families live along the main rivers of the country.
An official of the department said that if there are floods along the Nilwala, Kalu, Ging, Kelani Rivers and Maha and Attanagalu Oya at the same time, the roads will be flooded trapping approximately 100,000 families.
Although the Irrigation Department has several projects to control floods, it has been problematic to implement them due to lack of funds.
