The Met Department has issued a ‘Red’ alert warning that the depression over the southwest Bay of Bengal has intensified into a deep depression.

The system was located to southeast about 170km of Batticaloa and 240 km of Trincomalee at around 11:00am today (26) and it is likely to move closer to the east coast of the island and intensify further into a cyclonic storm by tomorrow (27).

Under influence of the system, cloudy skies will prevailed over most parts of the island. Very heavy showers and strong gusty winds can be expected in Northern, Northcentral, Eastern, Uva, Northwestern and Central provinces, the Department said.

Showers or thundershowers will occur at times in most places of the island. Very heavy showers above 200 mm are likely at some places in Northern, North-central, Eastern, Central, Uva and Southern provinces and in Puttalam district.

Heavy showers above 100 mm are likely at several places elsewhere of the island.

In its advisory for sea areas, the Department said the deep and shallow sea areas around the island will be rough to very rough, with wind speeds up to 60-70 kmph at times. Very heavy showers or thundershowers are likely at some places areas around the island.

The swell waves, about 2.5–3.0 m height (this is not for land area) may increase in the sea areas off the coast extending from Batticaloa to Kankasanthurai via Trincomalee. There is a possibility that near shore sea areas off the coast extending from Batticaloa to Kankasanthurai via Trincomalee may experience surges due to swell waves.

The Met Department warned naval and fishing communities not to venture to the deep and shallow sea areas around the island until further notice.They are also requested to be attentive about future advisories issued by the Department of Meteorology in this regard.

The Department requested the general public to be vigilant regarding the impending extreme weather situation from November 26 to 27.

The public is also requested to contact local disaster management authorities for emergency assistance and to be attentive about future advisories issued by the Department of Meteorology in this regard.

77,000 affected

Meanwhile, the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) says that the prevailing inclement weather conditions in the country have so far affected 77,670 persons from 22,532 families across 15 districts.

It said that the bad weather-related incidents have resulted in the dead of one person and injured another 05.

A total of 2,770 individuals from 821 families are currently in emergency relief centres while six houses have been completely destroyed and 265 houses have been partially damaged, according to the DMC.

6 flights diverted

Also, atotal of six flights scheduled to land at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) in Katunayake have been diverted to the Mattala Airport and the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport in India due to adverse weather conditions.

03 flights from Narita, Dubai and Chennai have been diverted to Thiruvananthapuram International Airport while another 03 from Chennai, Male and Abu Dhabi have been diverted to Mattala Airport, reports say.