THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Despite the intensity of the current spell of the monsoon abating, the state recorded three more deaths in rain-related incidents. The bodies of three people who went missing in canals and rivers were recovered on Friday. The search still continues for two others. Heavy rains triggered a mudslide in Munnar. The IMD issued a yellow alert for Kasaragod, Kannur, Wayanad and Kozhikode on Saturday.
The bodies of two youngsters who went missing in the Kolavallur River in Kannur were recovered on Thursday night and Friday. The body of 20-year-old Sinan of Kakkottuvayal and Muhammad Shafad, 20, of Cherupparamba, was recovered after a long search in the Kolavallur River in Chittarithode. It was on Thursday evening that the two went missing. Shafad, son of Thattantavide Moosaof Cherupparamba, was a third-year BSc computer science student at NAM College Kallikkandi.
The body of Vijeesh Puliyullaparambathu, 35, who drowned in a canal in Kozhikode, too, was recovered on Friday. On Thursday night, a man was swept away in the sea at Koyilandy. Search still continues for 64-year-old CK Ussainkutty, who went missing in Iruvanjipuzha on Tuesday.
Heavy rains triggered a mudslide at Lockhart Gap on Kochi- Dhanushkodi NH near Munnar. With huge boulders and chunks of mud falling into the highway, traffic was blocked during the day. Traffic has been banned from Erachilpara in Devikulam to Chemmannar Gap road in Udumbanchola. Munnar recorded 81.4 mm of rainfall in the last 24 hours.
The rain showed signs of respite in Kannur. Of the four camps in the district, three were closed down. Two houses were partially damaged. Restrictions on the functioning of quarries have been extended till July 11. In Kozhikode, more families were shifted to relief camps. Two persons were injured after a house collapsed in Chathamangalam. Several places in Mavoor are waterlogged, and houses were flooded due to the overflowing of Chaliyar and Cherupuzha.
The district has eight relief camps. In Wayanad, 27 houses were partially damaged. As per preliminary estimates, agriculture in 9.4 ha of land was destroyed. A total of 26 people from the Puzhanguni Tribal Colony are in relief camps.
In Malappuram, 131 houses suffered partial damage and six houses were completely destroyed. A relief camp at Ponnani MES Higher Secondary School has 19 people from six families. A school teacher and student were injured after a portion of the classroom roof in South Panamanna in Palakakd. The injured were Sreeja, 45, of Navaneeth house in Kullapully, who was the teacher and a nine-year-old student, Adarsh of Pookattukurissy house in South Panamanna.
The state received nearly 303 cm of rainfall in the first week of July. Taliparamba (Kannur) received maximum rainfall of 10 cm as per the latest data given by IMD.
Padinjarathara Dam (Wayanad) received 9 cm, while Munnar (Idukki), Ponnani (Malappuram), Vythiri (Wayanad), Nilambur (Malappuram) and Padannakkad (Kasargod) received 8 cm each. According to IMD, rainfall is likely to occur in most places till July 13.
The heavy rainfall on Friday prompted IMD to change the yellow alert in Kasaragod and Kannur to orange alerts. They also issued yellow alerts to Ernakulam, Idukki and Kottayam due to isolated heavy rainfall.