Devastation has hit Kerala's Wayanad district turning it into a desert-like appearance after massive landslides on Tuesday. The once-beautiful villages of Mundakkai, Chooralmala, Attamala, and Noolpuzha are now marked by destroyed homes, swollen water bodies, and broken tree branches.
These areas have also been cut off from the rest of the region due to the landslides.
The desert-like appearance was caused due to the mass uprooting of trees and floodwaters washed away the green patches in the landslide. Authorities specified that the villages of Mundakkai, Chooralmala, Attamala, and Noolpuzha were most affected and cut off by the natural disaster.
Overflowing rivers and lakes changed their paths, flooding homes and causing further damage.
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.
Vehicles swept away by floodwaters were found stuck in tree trunks and submerged in various places.
People made frantic calls seeking help
Frantic phone calls were made by people desperately pleading for help after being trapped under destroyed houses and piles of debris as landslides hit Wayanad.
Television channels aired phone conversations of several people crying and requesting someone to come and rescue them as they were either trapped in their houses or had no way to travel as bridges had been washed away and the roads were flooded.
In one such conversation, a woman, apparently a native of Chooralmala town, was heard crying aloud, saying that someone in her house was trapped under the marsh and debris and could not be pulled out.
A man, another native of Chooralmala, said during a phone conversations that the place was still trembling and they didn't know what to do.
An elderly man with injuries told a television channel that his wife was missing and he did not know where she was. He also said someone had rescued him and shifted him to hospital, but his wife was missing.
Over 100 bodies have been recovered, including some children, while hundreds were feared trapped after massive landslides struck hilly areas in Kerala's Wayanad district on Tuesday morning.
The tragedy struck near Meppadi early on Tuesday.
