KOTTAYAM/PATHANAMTHITTA/IDUKKI: After a brief lull, skies opened up again in the high range of Kottayam, Idukki and Pathanamthitta districts on Saturday afternoon, triggering fear of flood and landslide in the region. Landslides were reported near Mundakkayam in Kottayam and Angamoozhy in Pathanamthitta. Manimalayar and Kakkattar breached banks and people living in low-lying areas were shifted to relief camps.
The Idukki district administration, meanwhile, issued an alert to people living in the downstream of Mullaperiyar Dam after water level rose to 136 feet, the danger level set by Kerala. The Met department has forecast isolated heavy rain on Sunday and issued yellow alert in Pathanamthitta, Kottayam, Idukki, Kozhikode and Wayanad districts.
The Idukki district administration received an intimation from Tamil Nadu government that the water level in the dam reached 136 feet at 6pm on Saturday against the permissible level of 142 feet.
Car washed away in P’thitta after landslide
A second alert will be issued when the water level reaches 138 feet and a red alert will be issued when it crosses 140 feet. The water level in the dam rose by eight feet in 11 days due to heavy rain in the catchment area. The residential areas in Vandanpathal and Karinilam got inundated following the landslide at Asambani near Mundakkayam.
Kottayam Collector P K Jayasree has asked people living in high range to be vigilant. In Pathanamthitta, one car was washed away after a suspected landslide in Angamoozhy forest area of Seethathodu grama panchayat. “No casualty or injury has been reported so far. At least two landslides were reported from ward No.1 and 2 of Seethathodu.
A car that was parked was washed away. The situation is under control. We are now shifting families in these areas,” said Seethathodu grama panchayat president Joby T Easow. “Though heavy rain was reported in the forest areas of the district earlier on Saturday, its intensity came down later,” said Disaster Management Deputy Collector T G Gopakumar.
Heavy rain was also reported in the Erumeli, Kanjirappally and Mundakkayam regions. Traffic was disrupted in some parts of Mundakkayam. Earlier in the day, two shutters of Pampa reservoir were closed. The dam, which was filled up to 94% of its capacity earlier this week, is now filled up to 74% of its capacity. The shutters of the Kakki and Anathodu reservoirs, meanwhile, were lowered to 30cm from 90cm.