Seems like there is no end to flood-hit Kerala’s nightmare, with heavy rains battering Northern and central Kerala since August 8, which has left 29 people dead and left nearly 54,000 people homeless. In all this, a rescue operation video has gone viral on social media. In the video a heroic effort of a rescuer has been caught minutes before the Cheruthoni bridge went under water. It is seen in the video that the rescue worker runs across the bridge with a child in his arms.
The video footage was captured by News18 Kerala after the fifth shutter of the Idukki dam was opened and the reservoir’s water was released into the Cheruthoni river. According to News18, the police officer, who ran across the bridge in the nick of time, managed to save the child, and the bridge is currently submerged under water.
With all the five floodgates of the Idukki dam opened, water is rushing down the Periyar River causing huge loss of crops and properties. The worst affected is the Cheruthoni town, located close to the dam. The situation worsened with the shutters of the Idamalayar dam also being opened adding to the swelling of the river.
The flood situation in Kerala worsened on Friday as all the five gates of the Idukki hydel project were opened and shutters of over two dozen dams were lifted, inundating various parts of the state which reeled under the unprecedented downpour in decades. The army was deployed in the worst-affected districts of Idukki, Erankulam, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Wayanad and Kannur and thousands of people were evacuated to safe places along the banks of the rivers.
(Inputs from Agencies)