Rains continued to batter Kerala for the third day in succession on Monday as three deaths have been confirmed from various places in the State till 6 PM. All rivers are overflowing and many houses collapsed in the districts of Kozhikode, Thiruvananthapuram and Pathanamthitta.
Kuttanadu, the State’s Rice Bowl, in Alappuzha district has been submerged in flood waters. Roads leading to Sabarimala, the holy shrine atop the Western Ghats in Pathanamthitta district too has been flooded due to incessant rains putting a question mark on this year’s pilgrimage season which begins on Tuesday. The opening of the sanctum sanctorum of the temple was held on Monday in the presence of the shrine’s chief priest and members of the royal family of Pandhalam, the traditional owners of the temple.
Schools and colleges in many districts remained shut down on Monday. Landslides disrupted rail traffic between Thiruvananthapuram and Nagercoil on Monday. Efforts were in to remove the obstacles from the track to resume the train services by Tuesday.
Weather Bureau has announced that the rains would subside by Tuesday. Meteorologists attributed the Easterly winds blowing from the high pressure region of Siberia to the Bay of Bengal as the reason for the downpour that has been tormenting Kerala for the last few weeks.