THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Heavy monsoon rains lashing the state claimed four lives on Monday besides damaging crops and houses and causing an overall loss of `54.67 lakh, disaster management officials said.
While two persons were drowned in Thrissur district, one death each was reported from Alappuzha and Kannur districts. One house was destroyed while 45 others were partially damaged in the heavy rains causing a loss of `7.28 lakh.
Crops spread over an area of 31.2 hectares were damaged and the loss was estimated at `47.39 lakh. After a brief lull, heavy monsoon rains lashed parts of the state capital with Thiruvananthapuram airport and Neyyattinkara recording up to four cm of rain. Low-lying areas of the district remained waterlogged and traffic snarls were reported from many places. Apart from isolated incidents, no major rain-related calamity was reported from Thiruvananthapuram district. However, three houses were partially damaged due to heavy rain in Varkala. Though it rained heavily for over three hours continuously in Ernakulam district on Monday, no calamities were reported..While a 45-member National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team was camping at Kalamassery, a relief camp was opened at Chennamangalam.Heavy rains lashed Kochi and suburbs on Monday morning, leading to traffic chaos onthe roads. Massive traffic jams were reported from various areas of the city.
Kottayam
Monsoon rain that lashed parts of Kottayam district caused considerable damage on Monday. A tree was uprooted in the heavy rain, damaging a portion of a petrol pump and a car and an autorickshaw parked nearby. Rajeev Prasad, Senior news photographer with ‘The New Indian Express’, suffered minor injuries while attempting to take photographs of the monsoon havoc. In Idukki district, rainfall of 2.7 cm was recorded at Peermedu taluk while othertaluks received negligible downpour. Water level in Idukki dam stood at 2,356.56 feet against last year level of 2,396.16 feet. The volume of water available in the dam is 51.38 per cent of its total capacity. The water level in Mullaperiyar dam stood at 124 feet.
Coastal Thrissur
Panic gripped the coastal areas of Thrissur as high tidal waves lashed the coastline due to heavy rain. The sea turned rough in parts of Kodungallur and Chavakkad taluks wrecking wide spread havoc along the coastline and huge waves advancing to the houses close to the sea and uprooting trees. Sea water entered 13 houses along the coast on Monday.
Palakkad
Rains lashing Palakkad district over the past two days subsided on Monday, bringing relief to people in flood-hit areas. Widespread damage to crops was reported in the district in the monsoon rain 340 hectares of farm land submerged in water. The loss was estimated at `675 lakhs. Paddy farmers in the district suffered the most as most of the paddy fields weredestroyed by the rain. Out of the `675 lakh loss reported till now, over 50 per cent was from paddyfields. Other crops such as plantain, vegetables were also damaged in the rain.
Livestock of many farmers went missing and a loss of` 45,000 has been reported from Palakkad district. As many asseven control rooms were opened in the district for relief operations.
Kollam
The crop loss at Kollam has been limited due to below-normal rain in the district.Crops spread over 40 hectares have been damaged during the monsoon season and the loss is estimated at `72.7 lakh. In the last five days alone, heavy rain caused a loss of `27 lakh. However, no major rain related incident was reported at the control room opened at the Collectorate.