Kerala recently witnessed massive landslides in the Wayanad district claiming hundreds of lives
But this isn’t the first time that the “God’s own country” is facing a natural calamity of this scale. Nearly 100 years ago, the state was ravaged by an even deadlier disaster - the Great Floods of 1924.
An article that appeared in The Hindu dated June 10, 1924, says “Heavy floods in Travancore. Several roads and 500 acres of paddy fields are underwater”
As per the IMD records, Kerala recorded the highest rainfall in its recorded history in 1924 — 3451.3 mm, an excess rain of 71%. The flood, which is believed to have killed thousands of people, submerged around half of the then Princely States spread across Travancore, Cochin, and Malabar. Thousands of people were displaced, their homes and livelihoods washed away.
The flood destroyed the Kundala Valley Railways, the first monorail system in India built by the British in 1902 in Old Munnar to move tea leaves and transport people.
Production & Research : Gayatri Menon
Archive photo courtesy: Vibha Sudarshan
Voiceover: Jude Weston
