About 20 school students had a miraculous escape when a giant tree fell on their bus in Kerala’s Kottayam district on Tuesday due to rainfall and wind even as heavy rains lashed the entire State triggering landslides, submerging low-lying areas and forcing the authorities to declare holidays for educational institutions in several districts.
The heavy rains that had started pounding almost all areas of the State on Monday had not abated even late Tuesday evening and weathermen said the southwest monsoon activity could remain intense at least till Thursday. The authorities warned fishermen about the possibility of winds lashing the coast at speeds up of to 55 km per hour.
The police in Idukki district asked people, especially tourists, to avoid trips to the high ranges if possible as there were fears about the possibility of mudslides. At least three incidents of landslide were reported in Kerala on Tuesday of which two occurred at Kanchiyar near Kattappana in Idukki district. However, there were no casualties.
“There was a comparative rainfall deficit of 34 percent in the first three weeks of the current monsoon. At least one district had reported a deficit of more than 50 percent. Judging by the indicators available currently, the rains that are now lashing the State could offset the deficit,” said a scientist of the Thiruvananthapuram Met office.
A giant tree fell on a school bus carrying 20 students at Chirakkadavu near Kanjirappally in Kottayam district on Tuesday morning but none of them was hurt. The students had a miraculous escape as the tree’s top got trapped atop a concrete building on the other side of the road and thus crushing of the bus and snapping of the high-power electrical lines were averted.
Considerable increase in the inflow of water to reservoirs was reported from all regions of the State and the shutters of the Malankara dam in Idukki district were lifted on Tuesday afternoon due to sudden rise in water level. Tourist boat services at the famous tourism spot, Thekkady, resumed after water level rose in the Mullaperiyar reservoir.
Almost all roads including the main streets in Kochi, Kerala’s commercial capital, remained waterlogged causing traffic jams as the heavy showers that had started on Monday evening continued to pound the city throughout Tuesday. All the low-lying areas in the suburbs remained submerged as several schools in the city were forced to suspend classes due to flooding.
The continuing heavy rainfall forced district authorities to declare Wednesday and Thursday as holidays for all educational institutions except professional colleges in Alappuzha district while all schools in Idukki district will remain closed on Wednesday. The Kollam district authorities have also declared a holiday for schools and colleges on Wednesday.
The nine-hairpin mountain pass between Thamarassery in Kozhikode district and Vythiri in Wayanad on the Kozhikode-Mysore national highway witnessed a mudslide causing traffic jams that lasted several hours but nobody was hurt. State Agriculture Minister VS Sunilkumar, who was on his way to Wayanad, was also trapped in the traffic jam.
The Disaster Management Authority warned the residents of the State’s mountainous areas, especially in Idukki district, to be on the alert due to the possibility of more landslides as the heavy downpour showed no signs of abating. It also asked tourists bound for the high ranges not to go near rivers, rivulets and waterfalls.
Meanwhile, farmers who had suffered heavy losses due to the severe drought of last summer, caused mainly by a huge shortfall in showers in last year’s rainy season, expressed relief at the intensification of monsoon activity. Kerala had suffered a 34-percent rainfall deficit in the last southwestern monsoon and the shortfall in the northeastern monsoon was over 60 percent.