Landslide claims four more lives in Idukki

IDUKKI: Landslide claimed four more lives in Idukki after a home was destroyed late on Friday night. The deceased were identified as Ayyappankunnel Mathew from Upputhode in Idukki, his wife Rajamma, son Vishal and his friend Tint Mathew. Residents said that two other homes were destroyed in the landslide.

Landslide was also reported at Chembalam near Nedumkandam and Panniyarkutty near Adimali, destroying acres. For the past five days Munnar has been totally isolated due to heavy rain and landslides. Till date, eight people were killed in rain-related incidents in Munnar. Old Munnar town is still inundated.




Heavy landslide brought down the building of Munnar engineering college. A three-storeyed building in Adimali crumbled after a mudslide. Another one destroyed the Kattappana KSRTC depot on Friday night and 15 officials somehow managed to escape. Another landslide happened at Ambazhachal near Iruttukanam on Saturday on Kochi-Dhanushkodi national highway, disrupting traffic.

On Saturday, KSEB dam safety officials reduced the release of water from Idukki dam to 1,000 cu m/sec from 1,500 cu m/sec on Friday; 115 cu m/sec is used for power generation.

This has reduced the water level in Cheruthony River. Officials started water release at 800 cu m/sec, but were forced to increase it to 1,000 cu m/sec due to heavy inflow in the reservoir.

At the same time heavy rain continued in the catchment areas of the dam. Water level in the dam touched 2,401.88 ft at 4pm on Saturday. Its full reservoir level is 2,403 ft. Over the past 24 hours 10cm rain was recorded in the reservoir catchment area. Water level in Mullaperiyar dam rose to 141.3 ft on Saturday.