• Half of town’s homes impacted by flooding and landslides

Gelioya is washing off the sediments that have stubbornly latched onto the roads, walls, homes, and almost everything that was touched by the floods and mud that ravaged the area.

Although the monsoon rains are now falling more gently, they are not making it any easier for those who must continue cleaning layer after layer of debris and mud, discarding unusable items and salvaging what little is left.

The Sunday Morning took the Gelioya Station Road leading to the Kalugamuwa Central College to witness the town’s residents racing to restore their livelihoods and household environments to a liveable condition.

According to Gelioya Grama Niladhari (GN) B.M.G. Bandara, the GN division is home to 2,000 families and holds approximately 650 small and medium-sized business premises. As per estimates, about 1,100 households and 640 businesses were severely impacted by the flooding.

“The entire town took turns cleaning up houses and business premises one by one. We were actually amazed by the people who turned up at our doorsteps with equipment to assist in cleaning, brought us dry rations, and supplied us with drinking water,” M. Nalim, an affected resident, noted.

Slow return to normalcy

Over recent years, Gelioya town has improved its service offerings with supermarkets, banks, grocery stores, home electronics stores, and clothing stores slowly accumulating across the breadth of the town. The floods had caused considerable damage to the inventory/stock of all these establishments.

Shops that sold electronics, stationery, and clothes will take a considerable time to reopen. Banks in the town had to operate using their mobile banking trucks with ATM facilities powered by generators.

Even during The Sunday Morning’s visit to the town, only a handful of establishments had returned to business as usual. Most of these were vendors of fresh produce, a few bakeries, and vehicle service centres that were now servicing three-wheelers and motorbikes.

A vegetable vendor beside the Gelioya Bus Stand explained how fortunate he was: “We function on daily stocks of fresh produce. I just set up my makeshift display with the wooden boxes here. I am grateful that I was able to return to my business soon after the town was cleared of debris and mud and the road access was in a satisfactory condition.”

But for the two popular supermarket chains within the Gelioya town, it will take a few more weeks to service or replace their freezer facilities and bring new stocks to reopen their business premises. As The Sunday Morning observed, the entire ground floor had been cleared up after the flooding. The total losses are yet to be assessed by their respective head offices and insurance is yet to be claimed.

Added challenges after the floods

As we walked past the Kalugamuwa Jummah Masjid, a bus full of volunteers was getting ready to leave Gelioya after assisting with cleanup work. The signboard on the bus indicated that it was from Hikkaduwa. A banner was set up within the mosque premises, which read ‘Disaster Relief Coordination Centre.’

We made our way towards Kalugamuwa Central College, where we witnessed a resident who had taken apart his van and was carefully wiping off the mud from the wiring of his vehicle.

Mohamed Muzammil and his family are taking shelter at his mother-in-law’s house; his whole family had evacuated when the water levels started to rise.

“On 27 November, I was returning home from Kandy after closing my bakery. At around 5.30 p.m. I got a call from my wife saying that the river water level was gradually rising and the houses closer to the river were inundated by about three feet of water. The families in our neighbourhood had gathered at the Kalugamuwa Jummah Masjid and had taken a decision to bring all the families living near the riverbank to the mosque and other households that could provide shelter.”

When Muzammil returned to Gelioya town, he had observed the town in a frenzy, and he had received another call from his wife saying the flooding had reached the ground floor of their house.

“I parked my vehicle in the town itself and ran towards home to bring my family to a safer area and to understand the gravity of the situation. When I reached the lane leading to our house, I could see the water rising rapidly. By about 9 p.m. the entire ground floor was inundated, which is about 10 feet from the level of our garden. By 2 a.m. the water level reached the first floor of the house and then remained at a height of 18 feet,” he recounted.

Securing allowances

Although 80% of families have received immediate relief funds to clean up their houses and business establishments, another 20% are yet to receive the funds.

“The Grama Niladhari and the Development Officer are working tirelessly to gather the information and document the flood damage in the area. I am yet to fill out the form and submit my documents to them. It is only today that I got some time to fill the form and attach the documents; tomorrow I will meet them and hand over the application form,” Zarook, a Gelioya resident, explained.

The application that is circulated by the National Disaster Relief Services Centre for requesting the allowance to restore houses affected by the cyclone and floods requires the head of the household to furnish information relating to the house that was damaged under the categories of Cyclone, Flood, Landslide, and Other.

The Grama Niladhari has also requested the residents to attach images of the damage, a copy of their bank passbooks, and the temporary identification document issued for lost National IDs by the Udunuwara Divisional Secretariat Registrar Division after the disaster.

“The delay in applying for the allowance was mainly because the only communication shop on our road had closed after the floods. My phone was waterlogged after the floods, so there was no way for me to even take photos of the damage to my house. 

“I finally managed to get a new phone and get the necessary photos. I then went to Kandy to get the printouts of the photos and photocopies of the temporary document issued for IDs. My passbook got caught in the floods, so I had to go to the bank to get an account confirmation letter,” Zarook recalled.

Community initiatives

Assessing the immediate needs of flood-hit communities, the nearby mosque had turned into a shelter for the displaced and evacuated and was also the beacon of hope for a town that was disconnected for nearly 10 days.

Regardless of ethnicity or religious beliefs, the mosque had gathered all resources at hand with the assistance of other mosques within the Udunuwara Divisional Secretariat.

Just days after the floods and with monetary relief coming through to the mosques to provide aid to the affected, the Udunuwara Masjid Federation and the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama (ACJU) Udunuwara branch had established the Gelioya Development Fund. This initiative was intended to centrally coordinate the collection of funds to provide flood relief and rebuild the Gelioya township.

Communities and businesses in Kalugamuwa, Gelioya Watta, New Elpitiya, Old Elpitiya, Hendeniya, Dellanga, and Ilukwatta were the worst hit, and around 17 villages in the Udunuwara Divisional Secretariat had come together to contribute to cleanup efforts and the first phase of aid distribution.

“In my 25 years of living in Gelioya, this was the first time such a flood had occurred. According to some of the senior citizens in the neighbourhood, another major flooding incident had occurred in 1957. 

“Even today, a bus with volunteers from Hikkaduwa arrived in our neighbourhood to assist with cleaning the area and in providing necessary dry rations and clothing for those affected. We are also grateful to the families that are housing us while we clean up our houses before moving back in,” Muzammil noted.

While State authorities will need a few more weeks to complete damage assessments and subsequently provide full or partial compensation to those affected in order to rebuild their homes, relocate if required, and repair business premises, community initiatives such as the Gelioya Development Fund will accelerate recovery time and empower the community to return to their livelihoods.