Two people travelling in a car were washed away in the gushing water that flooded the Elappara town in Idukki district on Thursday. The body of one person, identified as 32-year-old Manoj, has been retrieved.
The incident took place at the Nallathanni in Idukki’s Elappara on Thursday evening. According to the police, two persons, Manoj and Aneesh, were inside a WagonR car and were perhaps trying to cross the Nallathanni chappath (small bridge) when the incident happened.
“It is not sure if they tried to drive the car through the chappath. People usually try to drive through the chappath thinking that there is less water. They might have tried to travel through and it could be then that the car was washed away,” an official of Vagamon police station told TNM.
Manoj’s body, as well as the car, were retrieved on Thursday night at a distance from where the car was washed away. A search operation is on to find Aneesh. Both are believed to be residents of the region.
Elappara town of Idukki district, where the incident happened, was heavily flooded due to the heavy rains that hit the region. In the visuals from the town that has surfaced in social media, water could be seen gushing through the streets of the town. A red warning was issued in Idukki district on Thursday, which implies that authorities should take necessary action.
A video of the bridge that the car was trying to cross shows the chappath almost completely submerged under flowing water. It is said that the video was captured after the incident.
Shutters of multiple dams in Idukki district, including Madupetty, Kundala, Ponmudi and Mullaperiyar, have been opened. Many parts of the district also witnessed minor landslips. The Gap Road along the Kochi-Dhanushkodi national highway also reportedly witnessed another lanslip. A temporary bridge in Periyavarai in Munnar, that connects to the Udumalpet interstate route in Tamil Nadu, was partially washed away on Thursday.
In the severe rains across the state, northern and central Kerala districts have been majorly affected with many houses reported to be destroyed by trees being uprooted and flooded. The state also witnessed four rain-related deaths so far.