Wayanad: Landslides turn picturesque hamlets into picture of gloom

Destroyed houses, swollen water bodies, and broken branches of uprooted trees dot the high-range villages of Kerala's Wayanad, rocked by massive landslides on Tuesday (July 30).

Picturesque hamlets known for their beauty until Monday (July 29) - Mundakkai, Chooralmala, Attamala, and Noolpuzha - are now a picture of gloom after landslides hit the areas, cutting them off from other places.

Vehicles washed away in the floodwaters could be seen stuck in tree trunks and submerged here and there in many places. Swollen water bodies changed their course and flowed through inhabited areas, resulting in more destruction.

Rescue workers hindered by boulders rolling down the hills

Huge boulders rolled down the hills and hindered the path of rescue workers.

Those engaged in rescue work could be seen shifting the dead and the injured into ambulances, braving heavy rains.

As the landslides caused mass uprooting of trees and floodwaters washed away the green patches, the affected villages got a desert-like appearance in many places.

22 people, including three children, were confirmed to have died in the landslides that hit the hilly Wayanad district on Tuesday (July 30), authorities said.

Of those killed, four people, including a child, died in the Chooralmala town of the district, while a one-year-old child of a family from Nepal died in Thondernad village, according to Wayanad district authorities.

Mundakkai, Chooralmala, Attamala, and Noolpuzha villages were among the areas affected and cut off by the landslides, authorities said.

(With agency inputs)