IMD issues red alert for Wayanad after landslide at Kalladi tunnel project

The IMD issued a red alert for Wayanad and Kozhikode after intense rainfall and a landslide at the Kalladi tunnel project. One person died, seven were injured, seven remain missing, and evacuation and rescue operations continue amid persistent heavy rain

Wayanad(Kerala): A red alert was issued by the IMD on Tuesday in Kerala’s Wayanad district, where very heavy rainfall was received in Mananthavady and Vythiri areas during the day. The alert was issued at 12.30 pm after the landslide at the Kalladi tunnel project site in Wayanad at around 11 am. A red alert was also sounded in the neighbouring Kozhikode district by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), while orange alerts were issued in the Malappuram, Kannur and Kasaragod districts of the state.

The Mananthavady area received 64 mm of rainfall, and Vythiri received 123 mm during the day. A red alert indicates extremely heavy rainfall of over 204 mm in 24 hours, while an orange alert means very heavy rain of 115 mm to 204 mm, and a yellow alert means heavy rainfall between 64 mm to 115 mm.

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While Chief Minister V D Satheesan confirmed one death in the landslide, seven persons are admitted to hospitals. The chief minister also said that another seven persons are missing.

Those living in nearby areas are being evacuated. A senior government official told reporters here that there were no workers at the site and those feared trapped under the mud were engineers and security staff.

“If work was going on there, it would have been a bigger tragedy,” she contended. The landslide occurred near Meenakshi Bridge at Kalladi, where work on a tunnel road project connecting Malappuram and Wayanad districts was underway.

A private bus, reportedly used to ferry the workers, that was parked at the site was pushed into the nearby river by the landslide and lay there half submerged as the water flowed through it.