- Photo: The Statesman/ANN
CHOORALMALA, (India): The devastating landslides that hit Wayanad on Tuesday (July 30) early morning killed 283 people, while 240 people, including 29 children went missing,with the death toll seemingly rising as rescue and recovery efforts continue.
The picturesque villages of Chooralmala and Mundakkai, which were among the sought after destination of tourists, now resembled as graveyards with flattened houses, collapsed buildings, mangled vehicles, boulders, huge uprooted trees and mud.
It is not yet clear how many people are trapped under the debris.
Many people were also washed away for kilometres in the gushing mountain water.
As the rescue operations reach its third day the entire people of Kerala folds their hands before the rescue and relief team, who are wading through knee-deep slush searching for life under mounds of debris, risking their own lives.
The rescue teams of the army, navy, NDRF, Fire force and coast guard carrying out a detailed search at three locations at Attamala, Mundakkai and Chooralmala.
The rescue operators are facing with adverse conditions, including waterlogged soil, as they search through destroyed homes and buildings for survivors or bodies.
The rescue team’s operations have been facing obstacles as Mundakkai, where one of the big landslides happened, has been cut off from the rest of the district after the only bridge to the area was swept away in the landslide.
In such a situation, the army men formed human chains with ropes to safely evacuate residents from Mundakkai.
In areas where the situation was even more precarious, people were ferried across a turbulent river on wooden platforms.
Meanwhile, the army has completed the construction of a 190-m-long Bailey bridge over Chooralmala river by Thursday after noon, to connect Chooralmala to Mundakkai.
A team from the Madras Engineer Group, also known as the Madras Sappers, were engaged in the construction This bridge will help to speed up the rescue operations.
More machineries including excavators meant for the rescue operations could be moved through this bridge.
The Army has established a Command and Control Centre in Kozhikode, led by Maj Gen Vinod Mathew, General Officer Commanding of the Karnataka and Kerala Sub Area, and Brig Arjun Segan, to oversee Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations.
It was only after the arrival of the army that the process of rescue operations became more professional and got it accelerated and intensified.
Around 500 soldiers are present in the landslide-hit areas in various sectors.
Soldiers from the Defence Security Corps (DSC) Centre in Kannur,a medical team from the military hospital in Kannur and soldiers from the Kozhikode territorial army are present in the affected areas.
In this connection,the heavy rains lashing at Mundakkai and Punchiri Mattam, the epicenter of the landslide, created a severe crisis for the rescue operations on Thursday after noon.
The rescue workers have been called back due to the fear of landslides.
The mission will resume after favorable weather conditions.
The Wayanad has been devastated by three landslides that occurred at Meppadi, Mundakkai and Chooralmala within a span of four hours.
The first landslide occurred in Mundakkai town at around 1am on Tuesday during heavy rain, washing away houses and families.
While the rescue operations were ongoing, a second landslide struck near Chooralmala School at around 2am.
Then a third landslide occurred at around 4am.
Mundakkai, Chooralmala, Attamala, and Noolpuzha villages were the areas hit and cut off by the landslides. Mundakkai town was completely swept away by the landslide.
Most of the victims were asleep when the landslides struck between 1am and 4am on Tuesday.
Huge boulders and uprooted trees rushed down from Mundakkai to Chooralmala, causing severe damage.
The heavy water surge from the hilltop altered the small Iruvazhinji river, flooding everything along its banks.
Several houses were destroyed, a temple and a mosque were submerged, and a school building was severely damaged.
Of the bodies recovered so far, some bodies have been found in the Chaliyar river, which flows into neighbouring Malappuram district.
The river carried around 80 bodies, or rather parts of human bodies mutilated by the vengeful landslide, for around 25 km to Pothukallu near Nilambur in Malappuram district.
Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and former Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi and AICC General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi reached Meppadi on Thursday after noon.
Leaders including K C Venugopala and V D Satheesan have accompanied them.
They visited the landslide–hit Choorimala, relief camps in Meppadi Govt Higher Secondary School, St Joseph UP School and Dr Moopans Medical College, hospital in Meppadi. - The Statesman/ANN
