A teenager drowned and three others were reported missing while hundreds of people were displaced as several low-lying areas were inundated after heavy rain began lashing the district from Saturday and continued on Sunday as well. Seven houses were partially damaged and several trees were uprooted in the heavy downpour.
Amrutharaj alias Ananthu, 16, son of Rajendran and Anitha of Karuvilakode near Varkala, was swept away by strong undercurrents in a stretch of the Kollam-Kottappuram waterway near the Karuvilakode bridge around 3 p.m.
He had stepped into the water, along with his elder brother Aromal and another boy from their neighbourhood for a swim when the mishap occurred.
The body was found around 4.30 p.m. a few hundred metres away from where he was lost, after a search operation by Fire and Rescue Services personnel, the Ayiroor police and locals.
The police said Amrutharaj, who was waiting for his Plus One admissions after passing Class X from the Kappil Government High School this year, could have been sucked in by the undercurrents, which had gained strength in the waterway after recent de-silting and sand removal works. The body has been shifted to the Varkala General Hospital morgue.
In another incident, Mohammed Naif, 15, the son of Sheeja and Nazir of Pathinonnamkallu near Nedumangad, slipped and fell into the Killi River near Patthamkallu around 12.30 p.m. as he reached there for a swim along with two of his friends. A search was still on by locals, Fire Service personnel and the police when reports last came in.
Mulloor coastShyam Sunder, 35, a native of Sahebgunj in Jharkhand and a migrant labourer here, was reported missing in the sea off the Mulloor coast around 4 p.m.
According to the Vizhinjam Coastal Police, Shyam, along with his wife Archana and two children, had reached the Mulloor beach along with a seven-strong group of migrant labourers from Charakuzhy in Vizhinjam.
The sea was quite rough and he was swept away by the waves as he stepped into the sea for a swim. Two boats of the Coastal Police, fishermen and members of the coastal vigil committee were engaged in a search when reports last came in.
In Thiruvallam, the police received a call around 3 p.m. that a person had jumped off the Thiruvallam Bridge. However, an ongoing search by police, Fire Service personnel and locals is yet to trace anybody from the river so far. Across the city, meanwhile, as many as 321 people were moved to temporary shelters in government schools at Maruthankuzhy, Sasthamangalam, Thycaud and Manacaud. Fire Service personnel said around 40 persons, who were stranded inside homes, were rescued using dinghies at Maruthamkuzhy, Karithode, Pappanamcode, Kurunguvilakam, Nedumcaud, Tirumala and Kanjirampara. Trees were uprooted at Mudavanmukal, SAP, Pippinmoodu, Kalady, Sreevaraham, Kamaleswaram, Oolampara, Anayara, Shanghumugham, Chakka and Medical College causing traffic disruption. A tree fell on a house at Panavila causing damage to the house.
