Only 478 kilometres of Sri Lanka’s 1,593-kilometre railway network remain operational after the recent cyclone caused extensive damage, Commissioner-General of Essential Services B.K. Prabath Chandrakeerthi said on Wednesday in a detailed situation update.
He noted that the cyclone had severely disrupted transport, agriculture, power supply and telecommunications across several districts.
The Ministry of Health has instructed hospitals to reschedule missed clinic visits, treatments and medical examinations for patients in affected areas, with priority given once conditions improve.
According to the update, the Department of Agricultural Services has reported damage to 1,777 tanks, 483 dams, 1,936 canals and 328 agricultural roads. Roughly 137,265 acres of farmland and 305 minor irrigation channels have also been destroyed.
The Road Development Authority has cleared 246 blocked roads, but 22 bridges nationwide have been destroyed. The breakdown includes six bridges in Uva Province, four each in the Northern and North-Western provinces, three in the Western Province, two each in the Central and Eastern provinces, and one in the North-Central Province.
Telecommunication services have recovered by 91 percent, although restoration work in the Nuwara Eliya district is still ongoing.
Electricity has been restored to 2,526,264 consumers—72 percent of the 3,531,841 connections affected—after 11,315 of the 16,178 disrupted power substations were brought back online.
Dry rations were airlifted today to residents of Aranayake, where road access is still cut off, and additional assistance was sent to medical teams operating in the area.
Technical specialists from multiple institutions—including the Water Supply and Drainage Board, Water Resources Board, Geological Survey and Mines Bureau, Irrigation Department, Central Engineering Consultancy Bureau, and the University of Peradeniya—are working with the National Building Research Institute to assess the structural safety of homes and buildings.
Chandrakeerthi added that the Director General of the Department of National Planning has been directed to urgently prepare a Climate-Responsive Recovery and Reconstruction Investment Plan to mobilise support from development partners.
