The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) reported that as of midnight on Friday (28), approximately 175,000 people across multiple provinces were without electricity due to the extensive damage caused by Cyclone Ditwah.

CEB Deputy General Manager Noel Priyantha said that the worst-affected areas were Badulla and key central districts, with ongoing challenges in the Colombo region, particularly Kotugoda and Katunayake, where heavy floodwaters had forced the shutdown of two substations.

“The Badulla area and central points are the most critical at the moment,” Priyantha stated. 

He confirmed that the number of affected customers was still being updated and that detailed data on transformer repairs was being compiled. 

“Gathering data is very difficult,” he added, noting that information was available for Badulla, the Uva Province, and parts of the Sabaragamuwa Province, but a complete islandwide assessment had not been finalised yet.

Internal power sector data of the CEB as shared by Priyantha confirms the catastrophic extent of outages in the Uva and Sabaragamuwa Provinces. 

In Uva, the province recorded 87,513 affected consumers as of Thursday (27), with 49 High Tension (HT) and 12,237 Low Tension (LT) breakdowns. 

The Diyatalawa area reported the highest impact with 40,000 consumers cut off, while Mahiyangana recorded 31,836 affected consumers and 10,612 LT breakdowns, the largest total in the province. 

The Monaragala and Badulla Districts recorded 12,000 and 2,502 affected consumers, respectively, while Wellawaya had 1,175 customers without power.

The Sabaragamuwa Province reported 64,845 affected consumers on Friday (28), with 102 HT and 196 LT breakdowns and 201 transformers deliberately taken offline as a safety measure due to flood hazards. 

Kahawatta was the worst-hit area with 23,282 consumers affected, 23 HT and 41 LT breakdowns, and 55 transformer shutdowns. Eheliyagoda, Ratnapura, Embilipitiya, and Ruwanwella also faced significant outages, with transformer shutdowns ranging from 18 to 50 per area.

The combination of widespread LT line failures in Uva, high HT breakdowns and safety-related transformer shutdowns in Sabaragamuwa, and ongoing adverse weather has created major logistical challenges for utility crews.

Many central districts remain difficult to access due to landslides and flooding, slowing restoration efforts. The electricity disruptions compound the broader humanitarian impact of Cyclone Ditwah, which has displaced thousands and prompted the Government to declare a State of Emergency.

Priyantha emphasised that restoration crews were working under difficult conditions and that the CEB continued to coordinate data collection and repair operations across the affected provinces.