The Department of Meteorology has warned that heavy showers above 100 millimetres are likely at some places in the Western, Sabaragamuwa and Southern provinces.In an advisory for heavy rain released on Saturday (07 Oct.), ‘Red’ alerts were issued for the Colombo, Gampaha, Kegalle, Kalutara, Ratnapura, Galle and Matara areas.Meanwhile, the National Building Research Organization (NBRO) issued several ‘Red’ (Level 3), ‘Amber’ (Level 2) and ‘Yellow’ (Level 1) landslide alerts for several areas in the Colombo, Galle, Kalutara, Matara, Ratnapura, Gampaha, Hambantota, Kandy and Kegalle districts.The Irrigation Department, on Friday (06 Oct.), also issued a ‘Red’ warning for the low-lying areas of the Nilwala River valley due to the possibility of a major flood situation.Accordingly, the residents of and motorists passing through Matara, Malimbada, Kamburupitiya, Thihagoda, Athuraliya and Akurassa Divisional Secretariats have been urged to be vigilant.Owing to the prevailing torrential rains and inclement weather conditions, schools in the Matara district, which were closed on 05 and 06 October, will remain closed until 10 October, the District Disaster Management Committee reported.A total of 13,027 families, consisting a total of 53,399 persons, across 12 districts have been left severely affected as a result of the extreme rains.