A three-year-old child drowned at Thazhekkode village in Mukkam panchayat on Monday after he fell into an overflowing drain outside his home. “As per initial reports, the child is identified as Omchand,” District Collector C.A. Latha told The Hindu.
The Mukkam police said the child was standing outside with his mother. When she left him for a moment to go inside to check on the younger sibling, the child wandered out and fell into the drain.
Ms. Latha said that 278 houses in the district were damaged in the rain, while four houses — two each in Koyilandy and Vadakara taluks — were completely destroyed.
“Village officers, especially in the high-range areas where there is a probability of landslip and floods, have been put on high alert,” Ms. Latha said.
She said that the presence of a team from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) had been sought for. “The NDRF has no permanent station in the district. They had one till sometime back. But they were moved to Chennai,” Ms. Latha said.
The district is yet to get a permanent unit of the NDRF, despite the Centre sanctioning it way back in 2009. “We had been asked to arrange camping facility for at least 40 personnel to begin the project, but there were no follow-up action on their part,” Additional District Magistrate K.P. Ramadevi said.
