Six people including a three-year-old girl were killed, several villages were cut off, hundreds of houses were destroyed, crops in scores of hectares of land were lost and landslips were reported from at least three districts in the heavy rains lashing Kerala since Friday. Weathermen said heavy rains might continue in the State till Monday.
Hundreds of families had to be shifted to relief camps in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Pathanamthitta districts as low-lying areas were covered under rainwater. Dozens of houses were destroyed and hundreds suffered partial damage. low-lying areas in many places in southern and northern Kerala were inundated.
The Disaster Management Authority warned people against approaching hilly regions due to possibility of landslips, especially during night. Thiruvananthapuram district witnessed the biggest losses in this phase of the monsoon. Famous tourist centre Ponmudi remained cut off for the second day, Saturday, due to landslides and damage to roads.
Kallar, Chittar and Vamanapuram rivers in Thiruvananthapuram were flowing above the danger mark on Saturday and the spillway shutters of the Neyyar and Aruvikkara dams had to be opened. At Marappalam in Thiruvananthapuram city, members of a family had a narrow escape when their house collapsed in the rain.
One person died in Punalur in Kollam district in a house-collapse while another person lost life after falling into the gushing water in a drainage ditch at Elathur, Kozhikode.