At least 38 persons have lost their lives in floods and landslips caused by heavy rains that ravaged the central and northern districts of Kerala during the weekend.
Twenty-eight of these deaths occurred in the worst-effected Idikki district in the High Ranges. Official confirmation was available only for 19, all in Devicolam taluk. Officials, however, feared that the toll might be even higher. The remaining ten deaths were in the Malabar region.
As reports of damage to property and standing crops were trickling in, the floods have started receding everywhere. Road communication between Cochin and the northern region, snapped yesterday following the inundation of patches of the national highway, was restored this afternoon as the rains ceased and the waters got drained out.
While information from Idikki was tardy in coming because of communication bottlenecks reports from other centres spoke of mass evacuation of people from low-lying areas. As many as 25,000 people were removed to places of safety in the three northern districts and another 1,000 in Ernakulam district.
A number of buses and passengers were reported trapped in several localities as boulders had blocked roads at many points in Idukki. In certain areas portions of roads had been completely washed away. Till to-night there was no information about these buses.
Five persons including three women were killed in a landslip in Vellathuval. Seven were killed in Koompanpara. Among these were three members of a family who left their house fearing that it was not safe and took shelter in another building which was razed to the ground when boulders came hurtling down. Ironically their houses remained intact. Three perished in a landslide at Adimali.
