Kottayam: Heavy rainfall caused flash floods and a landslide in the hill region of Kottayam district on Saturday. Even though no lives were lost, widespread damage to houses and destruction of crops were reported.
A landslide occurred at an uninhabited rubber plantation in Mangappara hill in Parathode panchayat around 12.30 am and the mud flowed down two kilometres to flood 16 houses at Chittadi. There were no casualties as the residents had evacuated on time, but household appliances and crops were destroyed. Items such as washing machines and gas cylinders were washed away from some houses. Moreover, 10 bags of cement and a load of sand kept for house construction were carried away by the flood waters.
Wells in the houses were polluted due to the mud. The houses close to the Thuluvanpara and Perumchira canals were flooded till the window-level.
The rubber plantation at Pulikkal - an elevated area of Mangappara – where the landslide occurred belongs to a man in Kottayam town. Around 100 rubber trees in the plantation were destroyed as the landslide swept down huge boulders and trees to the area. But, no human life was lost as nobody lived there.
Affected houses
The owners of the houses damaged in the mud flow caused by the landslide include: K P Vipin of Kuzhiparambil; P K Suresh (Puthanpurakkal); Cyriac Mathew (Vattaykkatt); Anish B Nair (Pallatt); Abhilash (Kalluvathukkal); P K Soman (Parayil); Abdul Khader (Thottathil); Seythu Muhammed (Puthuparambil); P A Siddique (Puthuparambil); Raghavan (Chittadi Thottamchira); Thankachan (Chotti Kulangara) and Sinu (Nadakkal).
A double blow
K P Vipin of Kuzhiparambil shifted his family, including his aged mother Vijayakumari who has difficulties in walking, and two children – studying in LKG and class 5 – to a relative’s house as soon as water began flowing into the premises. Incidentally, his house was submerged in the floods of 2021 also, destroying all the household appliances. He later bought new domestic devices on loans and the repayment period is still not over. “I’ll have to start everything from scratch once more,” said Vipin.
Similarly, Suresh, whose house is located closest to the area where Thuluvanchira and Perumchira canals merge, also lost all his domestic appliances. Two cots, a sofa and the water tank in the house were washed away. The floods of 2021 had caused damage to all appliances in Suresh’s house too.
Compound walls collapsed at Anniethottam
The compound wall and the washroom of the house belonging to M M Razak at Anniethottam collapsed into the adjacent canal following the incessant rains since Friday night. A section of the protective wall of Muhaiz Mustafa Rawuther of Karimalakuzhi also plunged into the canal. The compound walls of several other houses are on the verge of collapse. Three other houses and a tailoring shop at Anjilippa were flooded. Government Chief Whip N Jeyaraj visited the affected areas.
Alertness save lives
Residents of houses in the Mangappara area have been alert during rains ever since 2021, when the region was inundated in the floods, thereby preventing loss of lives. This area, which falls in ward 5 of Parathode panchayat, witnessed early signs of floods around 10.30 pm on Friday and people began shifting to safe places, mostly the houses of relatives. By the time rain intensified around 12.30 am on Saturday and flood waters and mud rushed into their houses, everyone had left. When rain ceased and the flood water receded later on Saturday morning, some residents returned to examine the condition of their homes and found that all appliances were damaged beyond repair.
Anxiety over quarry
Adding to the worries of the residents is a granite quarry functioning on a hill adjacent to Mangappara. Rainwater received on the Mangappara – where the landslide occurred – flows to the hill where the quarry is located before it reaches the Thuluvanpara and Perumchira canals through numerous tiny streams. If the quarry flattens the hill in future, all the rainwater would flow directly from Mangappara to the residential areas of Chotti, Nirmalavaram and Pulikkal in wards 4 and 5 of Parathode panchayat where there are over100 houses. “We submitted several petitions to the authorities pointing out our concerns, but there has been no action,” said Biju Joseph and P K Ravi, two residents.
A number of blasts were heard from the quarry even on Friday. The frequent trips of tipper trucks along the narrow road from Nirmalavaram Junction on National Highway 183 to Thuluvanpara are also a matter of worry, the residents said.
