Heavy rains lashing the district for the last few days have raised the water level in Kuttanad, triggering fears of another round of floods. More than 50,000 people have been shifted to relief camps in various parts of Kuttanad taluk. Reports reaching here said water level had increased to more than two feet on Thursday.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has instructed the District Collector to allot two weeks of free ration to those affected by the rains. The Chief Minister asked the district administration to open more relief camps in flooded areas and deploy medical teams.
Collector N.Padmakumar said that a total of 65 relief camps had been opened in the district. Out of these, 53 are in Kuttanad taluk. Four camps were opened in Ambalappuzha and eight camps in other taluks. The collector visited the Kuzhikkalil colony relief camp in Vezhapra in Ramankary in the district. Water logging along the Alappuzha-Changanassery (AC) road has been creating trouble for motorists. The traffic on the interior roads has been completely halted. These include Chakkulathukavu--Kidangara, Edathua-Thayankari and Edathua-Veeyapuram roads. Meanwhile, protesters gheraoed the village officer in Thalavady for not opening relief camps. Tahasildars had given instructions to village officers to take timely action in view of the situation in Kuttanad.
One dies
Thankappan,82, in Cheruthana south died on Thursday morning when he came in contact with a snapped electric line, which fell on water. Local people said that they had tried to inform the Karuvatta sub station about the electric line over phone. But there was no response, they alleged. They said the death of Thankappan could have been avoided had they responded to their phone call.
One house was damaged in Mullakkal village. At least 16 houses were destroyed in Alappuzha west village.
R-block inundated
R-block, which lies 2.5 metres below sea-level, has been inundated in the heavy rain. People in the area had already moved to relief camps following heavy rain in June.
