Heavy rain lashed the district for the past two days causing the death of one person and heavy damage to the standing crops. Landslips were also reported from some areas.
Lalitha, 36, of Kappipathal division in Thalayar estate near Marayur, who was crossing, a river on Wednesday evening drowned after she fell in to the stream. Her body was recovered on Thursday morning. Marayur police said that she was crossing the river along with her husband after collecting cattle grass from the area. Though both of them fell into the stream her husband swam to safety. Though he tried to rescue his wife, she slipped away and fell to the current in the swollen waters.
A rain fall of 40.5 mm was reported in the district on Thursday.
According to an official at the Disaster Management Cell, a damage of over Rs 1 lakh was reported from the district. The final list of total damage will be prepared after the village-level reports are reached at the office, he said.
Damage to standing crops mainly cardamom, plantain and pepper was reported mostly from Devikulam taluk, he said.
Landslips were also reported from some areas in the high ranges and in Thalakkulam area in Pooppara, a two-acre cardamom cultivation was destroyed in the landslips. However, the official said that more details of the landslips were available after the official-level field visits and final reports from the agriculture department.
The initial reports reaching here said that no major incident of road blockade due to landslip was reported.
The main rivers in the district were in spate and there was heavy inflow of water in the Peiyar, the main tributory of Idukki dam. An official at the Dam Monitoruing Cell, Cheruthoni, said that a rainfall of 42 mm was reported in the catchment areas. The water level in the reservoir on Thursday was 2,380.14 ft, which was 2, 774.02 ft on the same day last year. It is 74 percent of the total capacity, the official said and added that there was good inflow of water into the reservoir and an increase of 7.5 ft was reported on a single day since Wednesday, he said.
