Kerala rains: Landslides, floods kill 26; NDRF teams deployed in Kozhikode, other districts

At least 26 people were killed as heavy rains and landslides hit parts of Kerala early Thursday. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan reviewed the progress of various rescue and relief efforts.

Kerala disaster control room sources told PTI that 26 people have died in rain-related incidents since Wednesday, with 17 of them being killed in landslides in Idukki and Malapuram districts. 10 people were killed in landslides in Idukki, five in Malappuram, two in Kannur and one in Wayanad district. Three persons are missing — one each in Wayanad, Palakkad and Kozhikode districts.

Five members of a family lost their lives in Idukki’s Adimali town. Two persons were pulled out alive from the debris by the local people and police.

20 people dead in Kerala so far in flooding and landslides following heavy and incessant rains pic.twitter.com/GacCkXBvrP

— ANI (@ANI) August 9, 2018

The chief minister’s official Twitter account posted updates on the measures being undertaken by the state government to “tackle the rain havoc”.

Another 3 teams of NDRF will reach Palakkad by night. 28 members of this batch will focus on disaster management efforts in palakkad and a 48 member team will go to Idukki. An army team from Kannur is on their way to Wayanad through the Periya Ghat pass.

— CMO Kerala (@CMOKerala) August 9, 2018

A 15 member team of Navy is in Malappuram. Another 5 members are in Wayanad. A team from Ezhimala Naval academy has started for Wayanad.

— CMO Kerala (@CMOKerala) August 9, 2018

Around 600 cusecs of water were discharged from the Idamalayar dam on Thursday morning, with the water level rising to 169.95 metres against the full reservoir level (FRL) of 169 metres. The water level at Idukki dam was 2,398 feet at 8 am, 50 feet against the FRL of 2,403 feet. Of the five shutters of Cheruthoni dam, only one shutter was partially opened to release 50,000 litres of water per second from the swollen reservoir, said a senior official of the district administration.

IDUKKI RESERVOIR Dt: 09.08.2018
WL at 10.00 am : 2398.80ft
F R L : 2403 ft.

— Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (@KeralaSDMA) August 9, 2018

The Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) had decided to prepone opening of the dam shutters to 6 am from 8 am. “The increase in water level downstream due to this limited discharge is estimated to be contained within the river banks,” it had said in a release. Due to heavy rains and resultant floods in Kozhikode and Wayanad districts. Hindustan Times reported that Wayanad was cut off from the other districts due to the landslides and that the state had requested the Centre for the army to help evacuate or rescue those stranded in various places. Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan tweeted on Thursday that the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has been deployed in Alappuzha, Kozhikode and Ernakulam districts.

Three teams of NDRF have been deployed at Kozhikode, Ernakulam and Alappuzha districts. Army, Navy, Police and Fire Force are active in rescue efforts.

— CMO Kerala (@CMOKerala) August 9, 2018

Educational institutions have declared a holiday in Idukki, Kollam and some other districts due to the rains. All the higher secondary improvement exams scheduled for Thursday were also postponed due to the showers after the state’s education minister C Raveendranath gave the orders,  The News Minute  had reported.

It also said that many houses were underwater in the Adimaly region of Idukki since Wednesday and that the Wayanad district collector had ordered for the halting of all quarrying activities.

According to Times of India said that the state witnessed a 15 percent increase in the rainfall from 1 August to 8 August. Idukki district is reported to have received the most amount of rainfall in 2018, followed by Kottayam and Ernakulam.

Skymet Weather tweeted that Kerala would face heavy rainfall for another 48 hours.

As of Tuesday, Agumbe recorded 92 millimetres of rains, Kozhikode 20 millimetres, Thiruvananthapuram 14 millimetres and Karvar 10 millimetres.

With inputs from PTI