Thrissur: As many as 19 people died in rain-related incidents in Thrissur district alone on Thursday. Rescue personnel have recovered the bodies of 14. Rescue operations are on to find the missing seven.
The 14 were buried in a landslip that hit their semi-hilly Kuranchery village, near Mulankunnathukavu, in Thrissur district on Thursday. Two of them managed to call for help from beneath the mounds of earth that buried them. It was not known if they were among the deceased.
Two of the four houses are completely under earth. Ten earth removers have been deployed, even as only the roofs of two of the houses remain visible.
Earlier, Erumappetty, 11 km northwest of Kuranchery, too experienced a landslip, burying three people. Rescue operations are on in that area as well.
At Poomala, again near Mulankunnathukavu, a house collapsed, killing two people. At Kuttur, near the railway gate not far from Kottekkad, a person died when his fence wall collapsed. One casualty was reported following a landslide at Vettikuzhi in Athirappilly, east of Chalakudy. Leela, 62, of Pandanpara House died immediately.
Two panchayats in the southern part of Thrissur remain cut off. Helicopters have been pressed into service to rescue people from Annamanada and Kuzhur villages of Mala belt. Further southwest, Kodungallur region alone reported 5,000 people shifting to refugee camps.
High alert has been sounded among people on the banks of an overflowing Chalakudy river.
Landslides have been reported from Thanippadam and Vadakkumpara near Mannuthy. Peechi canal breached its banks in some parts, leading to water-logging in the locality.
The Peechi dam shutters did not operate automatically, following which they were lifted up from 31 inches to 42 inches after cutting the chains.
Thrissur-Palakkad traffic hit
Bus service has been suspended on the arterial Palakkad-Thrissur national highway. The rain and flood have made traffic impossible on this stretch as well as the Shoranur-Ottapalam roadways as well.
From Thrissur to Shoranur northward, traffic remained slow along the water-logged stretch at suburban Viyyur. Service has been temporarily suspended at the Thrissur KSRTC bus-stand that remains inundated. NH highway along the Thrissur-Chalakudy stretch, too, was partly suspended. Orders have been issued to avoid transportation on this route. Road service to Thrissur has also been disrupted from cities like Palakkad and Kozhikode.
