Keralam rain kills 5, triggers landslides and floods; orange alert in 2 districts

Heavy rain in Keralam triggered landslides, mudslides and flash floods, leaving five dead and two missing. With more rain forecast, the IMD has issued an orange alert in two districts and the state government is intensifying monitoring and possible evacuations.

In Short

• Heavy rain triggers mudslides, landslides, floods in Keralam; 2 missing
• CM VD Satheesan orders hourly situation assessment and evacuations
• IMD issues orange alert for Kottayam and Idukki, forecasts heavy rain

Heavy rain in Keralam triggered mudslides, landslides and flash floods on Sunday, leaving five people dead and two missing as the state stepped up its response to the worsening weather. Chief Minister VD Satheesan ordered an hourly assessment of the situation, while district authorities were told to monitor conditions closely and take steps including evacuation where needed.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast heavy rain in parts of Keralam over the next four days and also warned of thunderstorms at isolated places in the state from September 20 to 21. During the day, it upgraded alerts in Kottayam and Idukki from yellow to orange.

Following the Chief Minister's direction, Disaster Management Authority Commissioner Vigneswari IAS held a meeting with the collectors of Idukki and Kottayam districts to review the situation, according to a statement from the Chief Minister's Office.

SMS alerts were issued in Idukki and Kottayam on the weather conditions, and the collectors were instructed to assess the situation and take necessary action, including evacuation.

The Chief Minister also ordered the immediate deployment of a special Disaster Management Force team to the Nilambur-Amarambalam area in Malappuram district, where five people were swept away in the Kottapuzha river.

Police said two people died and two remained missing after the five-member group was swept away by a flash flood in the river on Sunday evening. The group, from Vandoor, had reached the spot and entered the river for a bath when the water level suddenly rose and swept them away.

One person was rescued by a local resident, while fire and rescue personnel later recovered the bodies of two others. The search for the remaining two was continuing.

In Kottayam district, a woman from Tamil Nadu was killed and her friend was injured in a landslide at Velathussery near Teekoy on Sunday, police said. The victim was identified as Sangeetha Arul Lal, 35, of Jawahar Nagar in Chennai.

Police said she and her friend, also from Tamil Nadu, were returning from Vagamon in the evening when the landslide occurred. Mud fell onto the road and trapped Sangeetha, who was riding a scooter, while her friend escaped with injuries and was taken to hospital.

Earlier in the day, two people were killed and a woman was injured after a mudslide flattened a shed where they had taken shelter from the rain at Kottakamboor in Idukki district. The three had taken shelter there around 3:30 pm when a mudslide came down and damaged the structure, trapping them underneath.

The IMD said an orange alert indicates very heavy rainfall of 11 cm to 20 cm, while a yellow alert denotes heavy rainfall between 6 cm and 11 cm. According to IMD data, Kerala has had a weak monsoon this year, with a rainfall deficit of 28 per cent between June 1 and September 17.

With heavy rain expected to continue, the deaths in Malappuram, Kottayam and Idukki and the ongoing search for two missing people underlined the impact of the worsening weather, even as the state administration intensified monitoring and response measures.

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