6 dead after heavy rain lashes parts of Kerala, landslides triggered

A statement from Kerala chief minister’s office said four out of six deaths occurred in separate landslides in Idukki and Kottayam.

Six people died after heavy rain lashed several parts of Kerala on Saturday, triggering landslides, inundating low-lying areas, swelling rivers and dams.

Searches for missing people are underway, with personnel from the National Disaster Response Force, Fire and Rescue Services, police, the Coast Guard and local administration participating in the rescue operations, the CMO said. (File Photo/PTI)

A statement from the chief minister’s office said four out of six deaths occurred in separate landslides in Idukki and Kottayam. Searches for six missing people are underway, with personnel from the National Disaster Response Force, Fire and Rescue Services, police, the Coast Guard and local administration participating in the rescue operations, the CMO said.

Chief minister VD Satheesan said 17 houses were destroyed and another 127 partial damaged.

Officials identified the deceased in the Idukki landslide as 65-year-old Sumathi from Adoormala and 77-year-old Prabhakaran Nair from Vaikom in Kottayam district. In Kottayam, one of the deceased was identified as Josephine.

Rescue personnel during a rescue operation following a landslide due to rain-triggered floods, in Kottayam, Saturday. (File Photo/PTI)

CM directs ministers in charge to camp in their districts

Following the landslides and flooding, Satheesan directed ministers in charge of rain-hit districts to camp in their respective districts and coordinate rescue and relief operations. He reviewed the situation with ministers and district collectors.

Meanwhile, three children drowned in separate incidents in Malappuram and Kottayam. In Malappuram, three-year-old Abdul Muhain drowned after falling into the Kandamangalam river near Thiruvali. In another case, four-year-old Adam Aiman drowned after being swept away by a stream in Neerad.

In Kottayam, 11-year-old Milan K Shiju died after falling into a rainwater-filled pit at his house in Pariyaram.

Assam flood toll reaches 82

Assam’s Sivasagar, Golaghat, Jorhat, Nagaon and Charaideo continued to reel under flood, with 192,000 people still affected, while two deaths took the toll to 82, officials said on Saturday, adding that around 13,000 people were sheltered in 54 relief camps.

A view of damaged vehicles, which were swept away in a flash flood of the Dikhow River at Bihubar, in Sivasagar on Saturday. (File Photo/ANI)

Another 26 relief centres were open, catering to 5,384 people. The state is preparing to reopen schools in flood-affected districts by August 10, said chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.