Roads turned into streams. Broken bridges. Overflowing rivers. Houses that are half under water. Household articles swimming in the street. Power outage. Mobile phones gone dead. Left-out cows and goats baying in scare at marooned homes. Thousands of people, scores of them bed-ridden elderly people, moved into makeshift camps. At least three persons dead.
This was the picture of a large part of the Malabar region on Thursday, exactly a year after last year’s worst-floods-in-a-century struck the region.
Towns and villages as well as uplands and plains in Malappuram, Kannur, Kozhikode, Wayanad, and Kasaragod districts were soaked in the rain.
Malappuram was the worst-affected district in the Malabar region while the devastation in Kasaragod was less widespread. A sizeable chunk of Nilambur town was under six or more feet of water. Scores of small houses were fully under water while the floodwaters rose up to a half of many two-storeyed houses. Hundreds of shops and businesses in the town were under water.
Landslips
There was a landslip in the nearby Karulai area, rushing the flood waters down to the rivers. Another landslip was reported in the hilly Kalkundu area of Karuvarakund, some 35 km from Nilambur. Because of the hills-and-valleys terrain of most of Malappuram district, the swollen rivers and rushing floodwaters caused widespread damage to private houses, farms, businesses, and properties and public utilities. Towns such as Mampad, Karimpuzha, Pongallur, Chaliyar, Wandoor, Vazhakkad, and Areekode got submerged.
In Wayanad, reports said the rainfall was heavier and damage was wider than this day last year. Some 5,000 people have been moved to makeshift relief camps set up in schools, places of worship and other public places. Two Adivasis lost their lives in a landslip at Muttil. Rapid-response teams and paramilitary units are likely to arrive in Wayanad and Nilambur on Friday in view of the forecast that the rain would continue to be heavy.
In Kozhikode district, minor landslips accentuated the floods in places such as Kannappan Kundu, Pashukkadavu, and Mattikkunnu. The overflowing Chaliyar has submerged vast stretches of roads that lead to Kozhikode. Three flights were diverted from the Kozhikode airport. In Kozhikode city, the arterial Mavoor Road was flooded. Some 1,000 people were moved out of their homes to safe places.
Camps in Kannur
In Kannur district, the rain havoc was widespread, but the damage was heavy in the upland region. The Barapol river was dangerously swollen forcing people to move to safer places.
Residents reported that the river was angrier than this day last year and at one time threatened to wash off the bridge near Vallithode, some 6 km from the Karnataka border.
The authorities have opened camps at Iritty, Thalassery, and Talipparamba taluks where hundreds of families have been relocated.
The Kannur-Mattannur road was blocked for hours together. Inflated boats and country fishing boats were used at several places in the district to rescue people. One person was killed.
The rain devastation was relatively less widespread in Kasaragod.
