Residents of the particularly hard-hit areas of Kottayam and Idukki districts are hurting from the destruction after torrential rains produced a series of landslides in Kerala. Many individuals have been evacuated from their homes and forced to migrate to rehabilitation camps in some of the impacted communities. In the Idukki district yesterday, twelve bodies were found from Koottickal in Kottayam, one from Peerumedu, and two from Kanjar.
Property damage was extensive for some people of Koottickal in Kottayam. Many older people claimed that this was the first time in their lives that they had seen and experienced such heavy rain. The local store owner pointed to his new automobile, half wrecked and hung from a shattered wall in his house enclosure.
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On Sunday morning, the Army, NDRF, police, and firefighters, together with villagers, commenced rescue efforts in the Koottickal and Kokkayar panchayats, where over a dozen persons have been reported missing as a result of several landslides followed by heavy rain since Saturday. Officials said four additional dead were discovered in Koottickal panchayat on Sunday morning, bringing eight deaths. The scenario was similar in Kokkayar, a mountainous hamlet in the Idukki district, which also saw a series of landslips and human casualties on Saturday due to the continuous rains.
A horrified Rajamma, a villager, couldn’t believe that a four-member family, including children, who had been seen engaged in construction works near her home on the foothills of the hill, had been washed away by floodwaters right in front of her eyes. On Saturday, the bodies of two women and a child were discovered in Koottickal. Officials stated that they had yet to be recognised.
A man and a woman, both 30, perished in a separate rain-related event on Saturday when their automobile was washed away in floodwaters in Kanjar, Idukki district. Rajan, who is in the Kottayam area to oversee rescue efforts, said the government authorities are also looking into whether other persons are trapped or missing among the rubble and slush.
According to a spokesman, the rescue effort was launched by the Madras Regiment from Pangode Military Station in Kavali Village, 4 kilometres from Koottickal in Kottayam District. A Navy chopper carrying relief supplies has taken off from INS Garuda in Kochi and route to rain-stricken districts.
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In a Facebook post, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan stated that relief camps had been established in disaster-stricken areas. He instructed the relevant authorities to guarantee that the camps are operating by Covid-19 health guidelines. The high ranges of central and south Kerala have witnessed conditions nearly identical to those experienced by the state during the disastrous floods of 2018 and 2019.
Minister Rajan visited the Kanjirappally hospital, where the remains are being held before being transported to Koottikkal. He also stated that the Bangalore Engineering Task Force (ETF) would be in the state shortly.
