KOCHI: The 72nd Independence Day turned out to be one that Kerala would want to forget as torrential rains battered the state on Wednesday triggering widespread floods, landslides, death and destruction. As many as 29 people were killed on Wednesday, making it the worst natural calamity the state has seen in recent times. Over 67 lives perished in the past week alone in rain-related incidents. Toll could rise further as many are still missing.
Several towns including Cheruthoni, Ranni, Aranmula, Thiruvalla, Kozhenchery, Aluva, Paravur and parts of Wayanad district remained cut off from the other parts of the state as flood water entered roads.
The Cochin International Airport, the busiest in the state, had to be closed as runways were flooded. Trains were running at low speeds as Periyar water was rising dangerously close to the railway bridge at Aluva. The Ernakulam district bore the brunt of nature’s fury as downstream areas of Periyar were flooded.
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The army, navy, air force and a team of National Disaster Response Force from Pune pitched in to rescue thousands of people stranded in various parts of the state. Water level in rivers kept rising as the shutters of 33 of the 39 dams in the state were opened.
After the Mullaperiyar dam water level breached 142 metres, the maximum level permitted by the Supreme Court, in the wee hours of Wednesday, the Tamil Nadu Irrigation Department opened all 13 shutters of the dam. This led to flooding of areas between Mullaperiyar and Idukki dams. Around 4,000 people in downstream areas were evacuated ahead of the water release.
Meanwhile, the water level in Idukki dam was rising at an alarming rate touching 2,399.32 feet as of Wednesday evening. All five shutters were raised to a height of 3.2 metres releasing a whopping 15 lakh liters of water per second.
The heavy flow of water led to flooding of Cheruthoni town, located near the Idukki dam. At least four shops were swept away as water gushed through the town inundating several houses and forcing over 2,000 people in five panchayats adjoining Cheruthoni to shift to relief camps. There were three incidents of landslide in Cheruthoni itself.Munnar was cut off from other parts of the state as vehicle traffic on the Kochi-Dhanushkodi National Highway came to a halt due to land slides.