Deadly Flash Floods, Landslides Plague 85% of Sri Lanka

Extreme Rain Events Trigger Flash Floods and Landslides Affecting 22 of 26 Districts in Sri Lanka

At least 43 people have been killed and about 307,000 people displaced by the deadly floods, according to the government.

“At approximately 4.00 pm on Tuesday evening an entire side of the Siripura mountain collapsed into the valley below after receiving torrential rains for two consecutive days. The landslide buried three villages including Piyasenas,” said a report.

Some 220 families  lived in Siripura and the neighboring villages of Pallebage and Elagipitiya; however, only 19 bodies have been retrieved, so far, and hundreds remain missing.

Related Links

• Deadly Floods Affect Hundreds of Thousands in Sri Lanka May 18, 2016

Highest Temp. Departure for April in 137 Years

Global Temperature Analysis – April 2016

The combined average temperature over global land and ocean surfaces for April 2016 was 1.10°C (1.98°F) above the 20th century average of 13.7°C (56.7°F)—the highest temperature departure for April since global records began in 1880, according to NOAA.

• Average global temperature across land for April 2016 was 1.93°C (3.47°F) above the 20th century average of 8.1°C (46.5°F).
• Globally averaged SST was 0.80°C (1.44°F) above the 20^th century monthly average, making it the highest global SST for April on record.
• Overall, 13 out of the 15 highest monthly temperature departures in the record have all occurred since February 2015, with February 1998 and January 2007 among the 15 highest monthly temperature departures.

Year-to-Date 

• Highest global land and SST average temperature for January–April at 1.14°C (2.05°F) above the 20th century average—beating the previous record set in 2015 by 0.30°C (0.54°F).
• Record high average land surface temperature at 2.04°C (3.67°F) above average, surpassing the previous record of 2015 by 0.59°C (1.06°F).
• Highest average SST temperature for the year-to-date at 0.81°C (1.46°F) above average.

 

April 2016 Selected Climate Anomalies and Events Map

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Source: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, State of the Climate: Global Analysis for April 2016, published online May 2016, retrieved on May 19, 2016 from http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/201604.