Name: Sri Lankan army works to control raging river after cycloe
Uploaded: 2025-12-13T09:53:51.022Z
Duration: 2 min 13 s
Description: Sri Lanka is struggling to deal with the aftermath of Cyclone Ditwah. Flooding is overwhelming dams that have stood for centuries.

Sri Lanka is struggling to deal with the aftermath of Cyclone Ditwah. Flooding is overwhelming dams that have stood for centuries.

Elahara

In Elahara, Sri Lanka, the Amban river, a main tributary to the Maha Valley, has experienced severe flooding after a cyclone breached an ancient earthbund dam. The Sri Lankan army is deploying soil-filled bags in an effort to halt the altered river flow and restore the dam, which historically supported local agriculture by distributing water to reservoirs.

Farmers in the region are concerned about the impact of the changed river flow on planting seasons, particularly for paddy and rice cultivation. The unpredictable behavior of the river since the cyclone has heightened anxiety among residents, who rely on effective water management for their livelihoods.

Sri Lankan army works to control raging river after cycloe

I am in Allahara in Polonnaru, where if you just look behind me, you can see the true fury of the water, of nature basically. This is one of the main tributaries, the Amban river, one of the main tributaries to Sri Lanka's largest river, the Maha Valley. Now, you can see it's literally got a life of its own, flowing, raging down here. Now, the strange thing is, this was not the way it used to flow. This has all been after an earthbund or a small dam that dates back to the 11th century during the times of the kings that went across here. And the water that pooled was then taken and distributed to other sort of reservoirs and things for cultivation. And that's why you see that massive wall of white, they are soil-filled bags. You have members of the military who are stocking it up to try and once again stop this flow of water so that they are able to restore that dam. Obviously, nothing can be done as there's this massive sort of amount of water sort of passing through. So, the idea is that it will continue right across this water flow, allowing once again the water to be collected and channeled through for the cultivation. Now, we're hearing from the farmers that this is one main concern when you look at the planting seasons. Now, you have water like this. And again, let me remind you that this was not the natural way that the river used to flow. But obviously, with all the sort of literally the changes that we've seen since the cyclone, I mean, you've had rivers having mines of their own. But for the people, they are anxious to see that all of this resource is channeled towards agriculture and towards the cultivation mainly of paddy and rice. Minerva Fernandez, Al Jazeera, Alahara in Pullenarua, North Central Sri Lanka.

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