Five persons of a family died following a major landslide in Thodupuzha in Kerala’s Idukki district on the early morning of Monday, August 29. The landslide occurred at Maliyekkal Colony at Sangamam in Kudayathoor near Thodupuzha. According to Revenue Department officials, members of Chittadichalil Soman were trapped under debris following a landslide which occurred at 4.15am.
The landslide was triggered by heavy rains and the house of Soman was washed away. The bodies of Soman, his wife Shiji, son Devanand, daughter Shima and Thankamma, mother of Soman, have been recovered. The recovered bodies were shifted to Thodupuzha taluk hospital for autopsy. Fire and rescue personnel had launched a search operation to find the missing people.
According to residents, the area experienced extremely heavy rainfall from Sunday evening onwards. Idukki district collector Sheeba George said that if needed the residents of Maliyekkal Colony will be shifted to a school in Kudayathoor. Idukki SP VU Kuriakose said that a special team was deployed to assist the search operation. Service of trained dogs were also utilised, said the official.
Revenue Minister K Rajan and Water Resources minister Roshy Augustine will visit the landslide area on Monday. In the wake of the landslide threat, Idukki District Collector Sheeba George banned night travel on Puliyanmala-Thodupuzha state highway from 8pm to 6am.
On August 7 a major landslide occurred at Puthukkady estate near Munnar causing damage to the staff quarters of Kannan Devan Hills Plantations(KDHP) in Munnar of Kerala. Three shops, a temple and parked vehicles were washed away. Around 450 people from 150 families narrowly escaped.
On August 6, 2020, Pettimudy under Kannan Devan Hills Plantation Limited (KDHP) in Munnar witnessed a landslide which buried estate layams (cluster homes) and claimed 66 lives. Bodies of four people could not be recovered.
Despite a search spanning 16 days, the bodies of Dineshkumar, (22), Kasthuri (26), Priyadarshini (7) and Karthika (21) could not be traced.