Five killed as rains pound Kerala, over 2000 shifted to relief camps

Five people were killed as intermittent heavy rains and strong winds battered various parts of Kerala on Thursday uprooting trees and inundating roads and several homes while over 2000 people have been shifted to relief camps.

The northern districts bore the brunt of the rain fury. Nilambur in Malappuram was briefly flooded after the Chaliyar river overflowed and people in waterlogged areas were asked to shift to their relatives homes.

Torrential rains,which lashed the eastern parts of Kozhikode, Wayanad and Malappuram districts since Tuesday evening, has inundated several low-lying areas in many parts of the three districts.

The carcass of a wild elephant from Neriamangalam village in Ernakulam was washed away in the Periyar river in the heavy rains, forestdepartment sources said.

In Thrissur, trees were uprooted in various places due to strong winds and heavyrains lashing the district.

In Chalakudy-Irinjalakuda region, trees and electricposts were uprooted with vast areas of rubbertrees and banana farm being destroyed.

Trees fell on some shops and homes, damaging them.

As the heavy spells continued for the third day in Kerala, the India Meteorological Department sounded a 'red alert' for the hilly districts--Wayanad and Idukki--for Thursday and Malappuram district on Friday.

The State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) said besides five deaths, six people were injured, 12 houses were fully destroyed and 735 houses were partially damaged.

"Two deaths were reported from Wayanad district. One person there was drowned and another was killed due to tree fall.

Two persons died due to tree fall in Thiruvananthapuram and Palakkad while one was drowned in Kasaragod district. A total of 1,854 people were evacuated today and at present there are 20 camps across the state," a senior official from SDMA told PTI. With five more fatalities that was reported on Thursday, the toll since the onset of the four-month-long south-west monsoon season, which began on June1, has gone up to 36.

At least 2,334 people are in relief camps in various parts of the state. Meanwhile, in the hilly Idukki district, night travel was banned from tonight. "Night travel ban is in place in Idukki due to heavy rains.The Munnar-Marayoor road is already closed. The district administration has also blocked the Idukki-Kattappana National Highway," SDMA said.

Meanwhile, the IMD has issued a special bulletin saying yesterday's well-marked low pressure area over Northwest Bay of Bengal adjoining north Odisha and West Bengal coasts now lies as a low pressure area over South West Madhya Pradesh.

"Another low pressure area is likely to develop over west central and adjoining North Bay of Bengal around 9th August, 2020.Very heavy to Extremely Heavy rainfall is expected during 6 th to 9th August over Kerala," IMD said.

Mananthavady and Vythiri in Wayanad district recorded 19 and 18 cms of rain respectively on Thursday while Nilambur in Malappuram district recorded 10 cms of rain.

In its bulletin, the IMD said a red alert (over 20 cm of rains) has been issued to Malappuram district for August 7 and an orange alert (6 cm-20 cm rains) in nine districts of Ernakulam, Idukki, Thrissur, Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kannur and Kasaragod till August 9.

The Malappuram district administration has opened nine relief camps in the district while seven are in Nilambur alone.

"We have opened nine camps in Malappuram with seven of them in Nilambur itself.

A total of 410 people are in the seven camps with adherence to COVID-19 protocol," a district disaster management authority told PTI.

Meanwhile Nilambur town was flooded for a few hours earlier in the day but the water subsided, police said, adding that those from the low-lying areas were shifted to the camps. The Wayanad district administration opened 12 camps and shifted at least 560 people. "People from containment zones are kept separately," Wayanad district collector Dr Adeela Abdulla told the media.

Extensive damage have been reported from Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasargod districts following heavy rain and strong winds. A red alert is sounded for rainfall of over 20 cm while an orange alert is for 6 cm to 20 cm of rain. The state government has set up a 24-hour functioning control room and said caution will be exercised in the districts of Idukki, Wayanad, Kozhikode, Malappuram and Palakkad which are prone to landslides.

The southern state had been battered by heavy rains and floods during the previous two years in which over 500 people had lost their lives.