Over 400,000 persons (300,000 war IDPs) are facing a humanitarian crises

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Vanni floods - Nov '08

Over 400,000 persons (300,000 war IDPs) are facing a humanitarian crises due to ongoing flooding resulting from one week of monsoon rains.

The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL)ordered the United Nations (UN) and international NGOs out of the Vanni leaving Tamils Rehabilitation Organization as the only NGO serving the needs of 300,000 IDPs.

For the past 4 months TRO has been urging the GoSL allow temporary shelter building materials, food, medicine, fuel and other essential items into the Vanni. The GoSL continues to impose severe restrictions & embargoes humanitarian relief in violation of International Humanitarian Law and uses food & medicine as a weapon of war in violation of International Human Rights Law.
Floods kill 6 people in Vanni, thousands displaced

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[TamilNet, Friday, 28 November 2008, 17:21 GMT]
At least four people were reportedly killed and two more feared dead in the floods caused by storms coupled with torrential monsoon rain during the past 6 days in Vanni. The sluice gates of Visuvamadu tank were opened as the raising water level posed great danger to the wall of the dam that has been shaken already by the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) attacks. Also the sluice gates of two other tanks, Udaiyaarkadduk-ku'lam and Kalmaduk-ku'lam, were opened. Hundreds of volunteers of Tamils Rehabilitation Organiation (TRO) and the Tamileelam Police personnel were seen evacuating civilians and in arranging immediate accommodation in public places.

TRO volunteers in rescue operation. Ropes were set-up to guide people to cross through the waters.
Floods in Vanni
North-East was first to receive the storms caused by Cyclone Nisha over Southwest Bay of Bengal, with floods swallowing up low-lying lands.

The continuous rain stopped at 3:00 p.m. Thursday, allowing people to reach Heroes resting places to conduct remembrance events and "normalcy" has begun to return to Vanni on Friday, despite the indiscriminate shelling by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and the air attacks by the SLAF continued amid cyclone and floods.

One farmer who went to check his agricultural land in Udaiyaarkaddu in Puthukkudiyiruppu division was drowned and taken away by flood water on Wednesday, TRO officials said.

A man, around 35-year-old and another woman were also taken away by flood water as they tried to cross over the flooded water on Puthukkudiyiruppu Paranthan Road at Moongkilaa'ru, where a 500 meters long sector of the road was submerged nearly one km away from Visuvamadu junction. Tamileelam Police and TRO volunteers, assisting the people, rescued another man, who has been admitted at Puthukkuidiyiruppu hospital.

A falling tree killed another woman.

A mother and her son were killed on Tuesday in a mudslide of the wall of their house.

More than 500 families have lost all their belongings and were hurriedly evacuated from 12th Mile Post located between Redd Barna Junction and Visuvamadu junction.

Water from Kalmaduk-ku'lam caused floods near Chu'ndik-ku'lam junction located between Tharmapuram and Visuvamadu. At least 4,000 families, from 3 adjoining GS areas (two in Visuvamadu and one in Tharmapuram) were evacuated from the low-lying lands in the area. Of these 3,200 were already IDP families.

Many cultivation lands were submerged in Murasumoaddai, Udaiyaarkaddu, Paranthan and in Ka'ndaava'lai. Many trees, teak, arecanut palms, coconut palms, mango trees and jackfruit trees were downed by the storms. Several trees were blocking the roads and destroyed local electricity wires, disrupting locally generated limited supply of electricity between 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

Three routes in Vanni, Paranthan - Puthukkudiyiruppu road, Puthukkudiyiruppu - Mullaiththeevu road and Oddisuddaan - Puthukkudiyiruppu road, were blocked at several places.

Fishermen were unable to engage in fishing.

Students in Vanni were not able to sit for their third term examinations.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired artillery shells towards civilian settlements in Vadamaraadchi East, A'lampil, Ki'linochchi town, its suburbs and Paranthan.


Chronology:
28.11.08 Floods kill 6 people in Vanni, thousands displaced
26.11.08 Vanni irrigation bunds close to breach, threaten 1..
25.11.08 Thousands of IDPs stranded by floods in Vanni