Three more deaths in Kerala even as rains lessen

Thiruvananthapuram, July 20 (IANS) Even the incidence of rains that caused huge damage across Kerala have come down, three more deaths were reported on Friday, taking the death toll to 20 since the last two weeks.

On Friday morning, residents at Wandoor near Thrissur woke up to see their neighbours' mud house virtually demolished in heavy rains the previous night and 75-year-old Ayyapan and his 45-year-old son Babu, both labourers, dead under the mud.

"The fire service was called in and it was they who recovered the two bodies. We had warned them not to live in this house anymore, as one portion of the house had completely come down. The other family members lived in another house," said a state government official who had come hearing about the incident.

In the past nearly two weeks, Kerala witnessed some of the worst rains seen, and Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiran Rijiju and his team are arriving in the state on Saturday to assess the situation.

The worst-affected districts included Alappuzha, Kottayam, Idukki, Ernakulam, where more than 10,000 people are in relief camps besides parts of Kozhikode, Thrissur, Wayanad, Palakkad and Kannur.

Also on Friday morning, the body of a man was recovered from the waters near his house at Aymanam - the setting for Arundhati Roy's debut novel "The God of Small Things" - about 5 km from Kottayam.

"Until 10 days back, this was like any paddy field and since the rains it looks like a river. Our lives have turned miserable as practically every home in and around Aymanam is submerged in water. There is no water to drink, nor is there electricity. Even though the rains have come down, it would still take a few more days for the water to recede completely," said a resident of Aymanam.

Another area that continues to reel under the floods is Kuttanad, spanning both Alappuzha and Kottayam districts, with 95 per cent of it submerged.

"The situation is bad as it has become tough to get potable water. Our provisions have also run out and there is no sight of any government help," Asaid a local resident in Kuttanad who is now going up and down in his small canoe seeking water and to see if he can get some provisions.