Cyclone Ditwah – Diary of the first five days at RANGALA HOUSE
Here is a brief description of our experience, here at Rangala House, during period when the cyclone first hit.
Wed 26 th Nov
We have 4 guests here at the moment. David and Samantha in Avocado Room, Georgina and her mum
Jennifer in Bay Window Room. They have been very philosophical about the terrible weather and I’m
grateful for that. There has been heavy rain more or less non-stop since they got here several days ago.
Still they managed a day in Kandy, David did the waterfall trek, Sam came up to see Rangala School etc.
D & S cancelled their journey to Sigiriya because of the worsening situation and stayed here an extra night.
The rain is now torrential and we are getting concerned about their departure tomorrow.
Thur 27 th Nov
The downpour increased and lasted all night. Many centimetres. This morning no buses tooting on the
road – an ominous sign. News comes in of multiple landslides on the road down to Teldeniya. Much
uncertainty, but by mid-morning we have a plan for getting the guests safely away. The road is passable
except for a landslide below the Hindu temple at Udispatuwa. Amila ferries the guests down in our SUV,
accompanied by Rooben in the tuktuk. The latter takes them and their luggage, bit by bit, round the slide
to their drivers who are waiting on the other side.
The situation worsens quickly. Thanks goodness R and A return safely. The road by Rohan’s has
started to buckle and twist – presumably due to the pressure of underground water which crosses there.
All the while the rain is increasing – no letup. Our stream has become a thundering orange cataract. Quite unnerving. Amila has warned the children not to go near – it would quickly kill anyone who fell in. Mains electricity, SLT and broadband still functioning.
Fri 28th Nov
The rain overnight was deafening. We are now entirely cut off. All services down (Broadband, SLT, CEB, then mobile phones and 4G gone by lunchtime. A big landslide of earth and broken tarmac is now piled up against Rohan’s smaller building. Maybe it will all go.
200M up the road towards Duckwari, two lslides. One is a huge rock which has fallen down from the tea estate side. A tuktuk could get round, not a car.
But another 100M up a major landslide across whole road. A huge heap of orange mud with boulders, tea bushes, broken trees and cables.
We heard that an elderly lady died when her house was swept away, not far from Dakshina’s parents’ house. The rain continues to thunder and there’s an increasing howling gale. Everyone OK, but we cannot contact anyone at all. Wondering about Amila’s parents at Hantana, also Shanika. Got a few minutes to Sam on Whatsapp this morning, but now nothing.
Sat 29 Nov
Rain and gales continued last night, but a bit less intense. All services are still off. We still have Dialog TV, when the generator is on, – the only connection to the outside world. The images on Derana of floods, mudslides are just awful. Island-wide, it seems.
Amila tried to get to Bobebila in a tuktuk with Ruwan this morning by taking the ‘short walk’ estate track but there’s a tree down. So he walked from there and took a tuktuk to Kandy. He needs to see if he’s parents are OK up at Hantana – there were serious landslips there a few years ago. He also hopes to get news of his sister Shan.
For the last 2 days the rain has been accompanied by quite dense fog – thicker today. Visibility uniform – about 70M. I have never seen this before with quite high wind but unchanging fog all day. It must be island wide as the cyclone centre has now moved north towards Tamil Nadu. Checked on the cattle this morning – they’re ok but very wet and in need of hot sunshine to dry out. A JCB digger turned up in Bobebila but was unable to tackle the lslide at Rohan’s. Biggest problem for us is lack of 4G – cannot phone, message, WA or anything. Having no mobile phone is salutary in a way but under these circs a bit stressful.
Sun 30th
Day of fog and damp. Loni and I walk up to see the diggers at work clearing the landslide towards Duckwari. People who need to get through are still scrambling through the mud where the lslide came down. Others are waiting patiently. It will take another few hours. The trees look ghostly in the fog.
We are so lucky here. Got everything we need and enough food / water. I play Pickasticks with the kids! Mobile calls now possible again but patchy.
Mon 1st Dec
First day of good weather. Clear blue – the land is steaming in the sunshine. A few military helicopters have been over. Rumour is that this is the only means of aid to Meemure in the remote Knuckles region. Amila’s parents are OK but the house has had it. Cracks appearing in walls and floors, doors won’t open. Dangerous to live in and they have already been ordered to move out. They lose ownership of the whole property. No insurance. Maybe, later on, some compensation from the government. Meantime, we have got to find them somewhere to live. Same story for Ruwan. Landlip about 2M in front of his house. He and his neighbour in deep trouble. He and wife and little boy have now moved in with his father (our cowman down on Sam’s market garden) so they are OK for the time being.
The storm is over; now the reckoning. The reports on TV show terrible terrible devastation.
