Kerala is grappling with the damage wreaked by the first round of monsoon rain. The southern parts of the State witnessed some respite from the downpour on Sunday.
The National Disaster Response Force personnel recovered the body of one more victim of the Karinchola landslip in Kozhikode district, where five houses were buried under the soil. With the recovery of the body of Asiya Hassan, 54, the toll in the landslip touched 13. The rescue operations were conducted with the assistance of two units of the NDRF comprising 40 personnel each, 350 policemen and fire force men, volunteers of non-governmental organisations and the local people.
Hi-tech search
High-end gadgets, including land scanners, were deployed to search for one more victim of the landslip. Revenue Minister E. Chandrasekharan, who visited the affected area, said the Cabinet would announce a special relief package for the landslip victims based on discussions and the reports on the estimated loss.
He did not preclude the possibility of the government initiating legal action against the suspected illegal construction in the area on the basis of the report of the revenue squad’s investigation report.
Fresh bout soon
Weathermen are expecting a fresh reset of monsoon conditions, indicating that the current lull would end soon. Thiruvananthapuram witnessed a lull on Sunday after a day of rains.
It is pointed out that the truncated offshore trough along the north Kerala-Karnataka coasts had ensured continued rainfall in the northern parts of the State while other areas witnessed a lull.
But the revival phase of the monsoon does not promise to be as spectacular in the State as it was during the original onset phase, principally due to lack of a low-pressure area in the Bay of Bengal, they said.
The first phase of the monsoon did not witness floods, with only landslips claiming lives.
The pre-monsoon cleaning activities, launched by the government by the first week of May with a major role for local bodies, also appear to have prevented clogging of drains, streams, and canals.