Though life is returning to normality in the eastern hill areas of the district hit by flood and landslides, big cracks developed on the surface of a hill at Ambayathode near Kottiyur in the past few days near the affected area is causing concern among local people and the authorities engaged in relief activities.
Wide cracks started developing on the surface of the hill near the place which saw massive landslide last week as heavy rains battered the area causing destruction to properties and crops. The residents below the hill were shifted to nearby camps as the phenomenon was feared to pose landslide threat in the area. Officials of Mining and Geology Department visited the area to assess the situation there. According to the officials, the cracks pose threat of landslides if there was heavy rains in the area. The rainfall in the area had slackened over the past few days.
“The top soil in the hill areas in the region is laterite soil and because of continuous rain the soil in the slopes of the hill is saturated with more water than it can hold,” said K. Jagadeesh, Geologist at the Mining and Geology Department here. The cracks on the surface of the slopes are caused by over-saturation of the soil and the gravity force, he said adding that if the cracks continue to develop in the same are, even a small initial momentum could cause landslides, he added.
The Mining and Geology Department called on the local authorities to take precaution in the area in view of the landslide threat. Over a dozen families living below the hill under threat were shifted to the nearby camps at Ambayathode as a precaution.
“Now the situation in the flood-hit areas in the Iritty taluk including Kottiyur is tension-free,” said Iritty Tahsildar K.K. Divakaran. The camps are continuing in the two villages in the areas not for those who were affected by the recent floods and landslides but for those residents who were living under threat of landslides in the area triggered by the development of cracks, he informed.