Is Putupaula flooding now?

As of Tue, 27 Oct, 4:33 am (Sri Lanka time), the Kalu Ganga at Putupaula was 10.4 ft, above the 9.8 ft alert level, and rising slowly.

Will the Kalu Ganga at Putupaula rise in the next hour?

In the next hour the Kalu Ganga at Putupaula could fall to about 10.1 ft (9.9–10.4 ft). This is a forecast from the recent trend, the gauges upstream and rain, not an official warning.

What is the flood level at Putupaula?

The official marks for this gauge are alert 9.8 ft, minor flood 13.1 ft, major flood 16.4 ft. Alert means the river has reached the alert mark: move valuables up and charge your phone. Minor flood means water is spilling over low ground, and major flood means move to safety.

Where does this come from and how often does it update?

River readings come from the Department of Irrigation's gauges, roughly once an hour, and this page checks for new ones every minute. This site is independent and not an official warning service: follow the Disaster Management Centre and call 117 in an emergency.

Putupaula Kalu Ganga water level today (live)

Official warning:

An amber warning says minor flooding may occur within 24 hours in low-lying Kalu River floodplain areas of Ratnapura and Kalutara districts; residents and drivers should remain vigilant and take precautions.

Irrigation Department

Reading at 4:33 am · 12 min ago

Alert

10.4 ft

Next hour

Falling

Next 24 hours

No estimate yet

Move valuables up, charge your phone

The level is expected to fall to about 10.1 ft in an hour.

Call 117 Kalutara DMC office

Details

Falling: about 10.1 ft in an hour.

Published as 3.18 m (alert 3.0 m, minor flood 4.0 m, major flood 5.0 m)

In	Level	80% range	At
1h	10.1 ft	9.9 to 10.4	5:33 am

Local trend

+0.4 ft/h

Upstream avg

+0.09 ft/h

Rain that fell: 0.0 mm in the last 3 hours, 117 mm in the last 24 hours at this gauge (very heavy rain)
Rain forecast: 24 mm in the next 24 hours over the catchment (moderate rain). Forecast model estimate.

Satellite estimate of rain over the catchment: 11.7 mm in the last 6 hours, 138.1 mm in the last 24 hours (to 4:30 am). It can differ from the gauges. GSMaP data by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)

· Trend only: a rain model was fitted and tested on 8 days but was no more accurate than "level stays put" at any horizon (best: 24 h, 0.42 vs 0.39 error).
· Forecast model estimate of catchment rain (Open-Meteo, area average over 11 grid cells above this gauge): 11.1 mm modelled for the last 6 hours, 53 mm modelled for the last 24 hours, 24 mm forecast for the next 24 hours. The model's past hours often read lower than the gauges, so they are not what fell; this note is for context.
· No recent rain — rise is likely to plateau soon.
· Kalawellawa (Millakanda) rising at 0.05/h.

How this is worked out
· This gauge's own recent changes and the other gauges on the river, fitted to about 11 months of hourly readings (one hour ahead only). In a backtest on the last 60 days it missed by less than 'no change'.

Is this right?

Each answer helps us improve the forecast for your area.

Water level

When does Putupaula flood?

Flood warnings come mostly between November and December.

It’s October: usually a quieter month here, though heavy rain can still bring floods.

Recent floods

21 Aug 2026Major flood
11 Aug 2026Major flood
10 Jan 2026Minor flood

Every day since 2022, year by year

Other stations

Along the Kalu Ganga

Arrows show the change over the last 3 hours.

In the newsNews reports, not official.

RainSource: Newswire26 Oct, 7:30 pm (9 h ago)
Several rivers reach alert levels following heavy rainfall(opens the news site in a new tab)
The Irrigation Department has reported minor flood levels at three monitoring stations in the Kalu Ganga basin, while several other…

Towns that depend on this gauge

Common questions

Is Putupaula flooding now?: As of Tue, 27 Oct, 4:33 am (Sri Lanka time), the Kalu Ganga at Putupaula was 10.4 ft, above the 9.8 ft alert level, and rising slowly.
Will the Kalu Ganga at Putupaula rise in the next hour?: In the next hour the Kalu Ganga at Putupaula could fall to about 10.1 ft (9.9–10.4 ft). This is a forecast from the recent trend, the gauges upstream and rain, not an official warning.
What is the flood level at Putupaula?: The official marks for this gauge are alert 9.8 ft, minor flood 13.1 ft, major flood 16.4 ft. Alert means the river has reached the alert mark: move valuables up and charge your phone. Minor flood means water is spilling over low ground, and major flood means move to safety.
Where does this come from and how often does it update?: River readings come from the Department of Irrigation's gauges, roughly once an hour, and this page checks for new ones every minute. This site is independent and not an official warning service: follow the Disaster Management Centre and call 117 in an emergency.