The overall water capacity of the 74 major reservoirs under the Irrigation Department remains at a low level of around 34%, Director of the Hydrology and Disaster Management Division of the Irrigation Department, Engineer L.S. Sooriyabandara said.

He stated that rainfall had been recorded in some areas of Matara, Galle, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Badulla, Ampara, Batticaloa and Monaragala districts and in some parts of Western, North Western, Sabaragamuwa provinces over the past 24 to 48 hours.

An increase in rainfall was observed in some areas, with the highest rainfall recorded yesterday being around 40 mm in the Badulla area.

In addition, several locations in the Ampara and Batticaloa districts received between 25 and 30 mm of rainfall.

Significant rainfall was also recorded in some areas of the dry zone. In particular, Maduru Oya and surrounding wet-zone areas received around 100 mm of heavy rainfall in recent days.

However, despite the rainfall, no significant increase has been recorded in water levels of the major rivers, while reservoir water levels have also not increased substantially.

According to forecasts issued by the Department of Meteorology, rainfall is expected in the Uva and Eastern Provinces today.

He further said that higher rainfall is expected during October and November, ahead of the upcoming Maha cultivation season.