The Ditwah cyclone that swept across the country has caused widespread devastation, destroying over 137,000 acres of crops and severely damaging the nation’s transport and communication networks, the Commissioner General of Essential Services, B. K. Prabath Chandrakirthi, said yesterday.

Of the country’s 1,593 km of railway lines, only 478 km remain operational, amounting to roughly one-third of the network, he added. The Department of Agrarian Services has also reported extensive agricultural damage, including 1,777 tanks, 483 anicuts, 1,936 stream channels, 328 agricultural roads, and 305 minor irrigation channels.

On the road network, 246 roads under the Road Development Authority have now been cleared. However, 22 bridges have

been destroyed countrywide, including six in Uva Province, four each in the Northern and North Western provinces, three in Western, two in Central and Eastern, and one in North Central Province.

The cyclone also disrupted communications, with 91% of telephone connections restored, though power and communication services in Nuwara Eliya District still require attention. In the electricity sector, of 16,178 damaged substations, 11,315 have been reactivated, restoring power to 2.5 million of the 3.5 million affected households that amounts to around 72% of consumers.

In remote areas of Aranayake, where road access remained impossible, dry food supplies and medical support were delivered by air on the 3rd of this month. Structural assessments of buildings and homes have been coordinated with the National Building Research Organization, Water Supply and Drainage Board, Department of Surveying and Mapping, Department of Irrigation, Central Engineering Consultancy Bureau, and geologists from the University of Peradeniya.

In preparation for recovery, the National Planning Department has been directed to expedite the Climate Responsive Recovery and Reconstruction Investment Plan (CRRRIP), aimed at facilitating climate-responsive rebuilding and long-term resilience.

The cyclone has left the country grappling with extensive infrastructural damage, highlighting the urgent need for coordinated disaster recovery and rehabilitation efforts.