Heavy Rains, Gushing Mountain Streams, 270 Dead: How Landslides Ravaged Wayanad

Hundreds are still searching for their families. Not all of them are lucky in their search.

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In Chooralmala, an overwhelmed young man Vijayan cries as he frantically searches for his mother and sister. "Both of them slipped down from my hands while I had gripped the window of my house," he tells this reporter.

At 2 am on Tuesday, 30 July, a landslide hit Mundakkai, a tiny hamlet near Meppadi in Kerala's Wayanad district – nestled on the top of a mountain on the Western Ghats. In the matter of a few hours, two more landslides followed, partially sweeping away Mundakkai and Chooralmala, a tiny township 3.5 km down its slopes.

The death toll from the devastating avalanche on Thursday morning stands at 276 casualties.

Hundreds like Vijayan are still searching for their families. Not all of them are lucky in their search. One man this reporter met lost 13 members of his family.

"God's Own Country" Kerala and "Green Paradise" Wayanad are, at the moment, haunted by dead bodies floating in rivers, debris leaden with the dead, half-buried human lives crying for help from rivers, collapsed bridges, washed off roads, and screams of the hapless from the debris.

So far, rescue teams have saved 1,000 people, even as hundreds still remain missing. Over 3,060 people have been forced to seek refuge in as many as 45 relief camps. Close to 5,000 people and 1,000 families have been affected by the multiple landslides.

What Went Down in Wayanad

The slopes of the Western Ghats, notorious for torrential rains and cloud bursts, received 572 millimetres of rain (which is above normal) for 48 hours (ending on Tuesday morning).

The first reports of disaster came in the wee hours of Tuesday.

While rescue workers initially thought that the landslide happened in Chooralmala, it was later made clear that the centre of the landslide was a hillock atop Mundakkai.

Unique to Kerala, the local volunteer groups and active political parties were the first whistleblowers on the magnitude of the calamity. By the time social media was abuzz with the news, they had already reached Chooralmala, but were unable to access the upper reaches of the mountain to Mundakkai and Attamala, another hamlet, as the bridge was washed off in the avalanche.

A mosque, parts of a three-storied school building, a tiny temple, shops, and houses were all washed down by the landslide.

Steep Terrain and Gushing Mountain Streams Made Rescue Tougher

However, even as local police, fire teams, volunteers, and rescue teams all started the evacuation and rescue mission at around 4 am on Tuesday, the region's steep terrain, heaped debris, rushing water in the stream, heavy rain in the hills, and the possibility of further landslides, forced them to limit their mission to Chooralmala.

Babu K, President, Meppadi Village Panchayat, tells The Quint that the tiny mountain stream that was hardly eight meters wide earlier, had turned into more than 100 meters.

"The avalanche had washed out the entire area. Though we were afraid of some kind of a disaster as it was raining for the last many days, a disaster of such a magnitude was beyond our wildest dreams."

Babu K

By noon, the rescue teams had to call for additional backup forces from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and special units of police and fire teams too.

Even as additional teams came in, Mundakkai village – where hundreds were trapped in resorts, houses and hilltops – continued to be inaccessible. Air Force choppers that attempted to shift personnel to the spot were also met with hostile weather.

However, more force was brought in by Tuesday evening when army personnel joined the rescue operation and reached Mundakkai to help the rescue teams in airlifting the seriously injured and aged.

The army constructed a temporary walking bridge across the gushing stream to bring the victims to safety while the dead bodies were shifted through ropes tied on both sides of the stream.

By Wednesday morning, the rescue teams stands at a 250-member strength, as an army team from the Madras Engineering Group of the Madras Regiment is expected to join the mission to reconstruct the washed-off bridge establishing connectivity to the hills from Chooralmala.   

Countless Lives Washed Down in the Mountain Stream

The scale of devastation caused by the landslides has been massive.

By Tuesday evening, as many as 54 dead bodies were fished out by locals who formed a rescue team, 20 kms away from Mundakkai, in Malappuram's Pothukallu where the mountain rivers join River Chaliyar near Nilambur.

Sunil John, General Manager of Sentinel Rock Estate of Harrison’s Malayalam Group, a plantation group in South India which is one of the most affected areas, tells The Quint that by Wednesday morning, the dead bodies of four staff members, including the field officer, were retrieved by the rescue team.

"Nine employees' quarters of Sentinel Rock Estate have been washed out. Among the workers, 35 workers and their families are missing, including migrant workers from northeastern states."

Sunil John

Did We Miss the Warning Signals?

CK Vishnudas, Head of the Hume Centre for Ecology and Wildlife Biology, tells The Quint that he had informed the District Emergency Disaster Monitoring Centre of the alarming situation in the hills.

"We had intimated not only on Mundakkai, but also on the other landslide-prone areas like Kappikkalam, Puthumala, Thettamala, Sugandhagiri, Punchirimattam, and Lakkidy, where the rainfall data crossed the 200-mark on Monday morning. Since we have been associated with the district administration for almost a decade in weather monitoring, I felt that the magnitude of the calamity could have reduced much if we responded more seriously to scientifically collected data."

CK Vishnudas

That's not the only warning sign that we missed. In 2019, a landslide had led to the deaths of 17 people and washed out the tip of Puthumala, a hamlet just a few km from Mundakkai. Mundakkai has also been listed as an "extremely ecologically sensitive zone" by the Madhav Gadgil committee.

Despite this, there are many constructions both legal and illegal as the region was an endearing tourism spot with its mist clad mountains, tea plantations, and green expanse of forests, according to experts. At the moment, there are still many tourists trapped in resorts, many others missing – including two doctors and their team from Odisha's Bhubaneshwar.

Experts also point that the district administration failed to give serious warning signals to people to vacate the places and shift to safe spots. The only warning came from the district administration at 10: 35 pm on Monday night urging people to be alert.

The lone serious action had come from the Meppadi Village Panchayat by Monday evening which directed all the resorts to close down and vacate all tourists to safe spots.

(Jose Kurian is a Wayanad-based senior journalist who has formerly worked with The New Indian Express and Deccan Chronicle. He now regularly writes for Onmanorama Online, Inmathi Online, and 101 Reporters.)