Foreign Office issues Sri Lanka travel warning
Visitors to Sri Lanka are being warned of major flooding due to heavy monsoon rains that have led to the deaths of at least 32 people on the island.The death toll is expected to rise significantly as the Red Cross believes at least 200 familes from three villages have been buried under huge mudslides.
The UK Foreign Office said those who were travelling over the next few days should follow local advice and leave plenty of time to reach their destination.
The Meteorological Department has warned that more rain, rough seas and strong winds are due to hit most parts of the country.
More than 134,000 people have been evacuated to safe locations. A mudslide that hit two villages less than 50 miles from the capital Colombo killed at least 16 people. In Aranayake 13 bodies were recovered but the Red Cross believes many more are trapped under the mud. In nearby Bulathkohupitiya, three casualties have been confirmed.
Few UK operators have many clients in Sri Lanka at the moment as the main tourist season is in the winter, but Experience Travel Group has several groups due to arrive in the next three weeks, one on May 25.
Director Sam Clark said the firm’s office in Chilaw, on the coast north of Colombo, was under a foot of water today.
However, he said fellow director Tom Armstrong, pictured below, had managed to travel out of a flood-affected region this morning and he had arrived safely at the airport, where he understood flights were operating normally.
Clark said he was confident the forthcoming trips will be able to go ahead. "At worst, we might have to adjust the route for next week’s tour," he said.
"It’s obviously terrible for the poor people under the mudslides in the Kegalle district, and our thoughts are with them. However, the tourism areas are not too badly affected.
"It’s worth noting that water levels fall (and rise) very rapidly in Sri Lanka, so once the rain stops, the levels will fall very quickly, well before the tourist season picks up again in a month or two."
Clark said that, as far as he was aware, hotels on the coast were operating as normal.
Kuoni confirmed this morning that it didn’t have any clients affected by the monsoon, which Clark said was the worst the company had experienced in the 12 years it had been operating to Sri Lanka.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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