Northern Kerala in deluge despite rain relief

The northern Kerala district of Kozhikode, which suffered this year’s worst monsoon-related disasters in the State, had some respite on Friday from heavy downpour that had been pounding the region for four days but large parts of it remained under floodwaters forcing thousands to stay in the relief camps.

The death toll in Thursday’s horrible landslide at Karinchola in Kozhikode district rose to eight with the recovery of the body of an 18-month-old girl while the number of deaths in incidents triggered by the intense southwestern monsoon activity in the State rose to 34. People had started returning homes from relief camps in several flood-hit areas in southern districts.

Large parts of Kozhikode district and the adjoining mountainous Wayanad district on Friday remained cut off due to the landslides and flooding that had occurred in the previous days. Traffic along many important roads including the Wayanad Pass and the Kozhikode-Wayanad road was yet to be restored in full.

The body of Rifa Fatima Mariam, granddaughter of Hassan of Karinchola who was killed in the landslide, was found from under the mud and rubbles thrown down by Thursday’s landslip  within four hours of resumption of the rescue operation that was suspended late Thursday evening due to lack of light and heavy rains.

Search was continuing on Friday for six persons, including Rifa’s sister and mother Nusrat, who had gone missing after the landslip buried four houses under mud in Karinchola village of Kattippara Panchayat in the wee hours of Thursday. The bodies of seven persons including four children had been found from the place on Thursday.

Landslips due to incessant rains had occurred in at least six places in Kozhikode district but Karinchola was the worst hit. Though there was a let up in the rains on Friday, fear was yet to subside in the minds of people as the weather office had forecast heavy rains till Monday and sounded red alert for Kozhikode and orange alert for four other north Kerala districts.

Rescue workers including personnel from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State police and the Fire and Rescue Force and local residents were rummaging through the dirt, rocks and fallen trees deposited by the landslide at Karinchola for the missing persons. Authorities said the search would be extended to the lower reaches of Karinchola hill.

Two State Ministers from the district, TP Ramakrishnan and AK Saseendran, were leading the rescue operations. Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala who visited the landslip-hit place on Friday morning demanded setting up of a permanent NDRF unit in Kozhikode considering the fact that rain-related disasters were recurring in northern Kerala.

Though the rains had subsided in Kozhikode district a bit on Friday, large parts of it – including certain areas within the Kozhikode city limits – remained marooned by the flood waters brought in by swollen rivers and landslides. At least 3,000 people were still stranded in relief camps as their houses remained flooded.

In Wayanad district, which remained almost entirely cut off from the rest of the State for the second consecutive day, over 1,500 people from 370 families were staying in relief camps. It may take several weeks for the traffic to be restored in full along the Thamarassery Pass, the main road into Wayanad that has been damaged at several points by landslides.

In southern Kerala, many parts of Kuttanad, Kerala’s Rice Bowl in Alappuzha district, remained isolated from the rest of the district due to flooding. Local people could be seen using small boats to cross the 26-KM arterial AC Road running through Kuttanad at least at eight flooded stretches as traffic along the road remained virtually suspended for the second consecutive day.

Though no heavy rains had occurred on Friday in Alappuzha, a coastal district, Kuttanad remained flooded because of the waters brought in by the rivers originating in the eastern districts where heavy rains had occurred in the previous days. Hundreds of people were yet to return to their homes from the relief camps.