Kerala rain: Five relief camps opened in Palakkad

Palakkad: The situation in Palakkad has become grim with heavy rain lashing the district for the past one week, threatening a repeat of the previous deluge in August.

Five flood relief camps were opened in Palakkad and Mannarkkad taluks on Thursday, with six families (19 persons) shifted to a camp at an anganwadi in Padavayal, Mannarkkad.

A relief camp was opened at Anakkal school in Malampuzha. In Mundur two camps were opened at Panjikulam LP School and nine families (34 persons) were shifted to the camp.

An emergency meeting of the district disaster management will be held on Friday to review the situation. Relief measures are undertaken by DDM, fire and rescue services, police and revenue department officials. Kara (55) of Sholayar was killed when a tree fell on his house in Attapadi which was cut off from the mainland, along with Nelliyampathy, due to floods .

The shutters of three reservoirs were opened and Bharatappuzha, Bhavani, Siruvani, Kunthipuzha and Kanjirapuzha are in spate. On Thursday, the shutters of Siruvani, Mangalam, Meenkara were opened and the three shutters of Kanjirapuzha were opened due to a landslide at Irumbakachola.

The Kalpathy river overflowed submerging the Sastha Nagar Housing Colony, Hill View Nagar Colony in Kanjikode and other low laying areas of Palakkad town.

Considering the flood situation and persisting heavy rains, collector D Balamurali has declared a holiday for all educational institutions including professional colleges on Friday.