Sea erosion, houses in danger

Kasaragod: After a gap of couple of days, torrential rains resumed their beat from Monday night onwards. The heavy rains supported by strong winds intensified sea erosion at Uppala’s Hanuman Nagar, Manimunda, Kiyuru, Cherangai, Trakkannad areas with houses here on the verge of being claimed by the sea.

The road along the coast at Hanuman Nagar has already been claimed by the sea and adversely affected vehicular movement. The waves are crashing on the compound walls of the houses located here and the houses themselves are facing imminent danger. Already one family has been shifted to a secure location. Sea erosion here intensified since a week and presently, the road here has collapsed to a length of a kilometer. The retaining wall provided beside the road has also collapsed. Thus currently, the houses of fish labourers Laxman, Mohini, Yamuna, Jaya Kumar, Sharmila, Ashok, Anil and many others are in danger. Mohini’s family has been relocated. Sea erosion has also occurred at Musodi and the sea is roaring with might here. Road from Musodi to Aila Shivaji Nagar still exists while the road at Hanuman Nagar has become one with the sea. This has caused a problem to the people of either area.

The water level of rivers in Kasaragod district is rising up and any more rain may lead to the overflowing of the rivers. This poses an imminent danger. Water level at Madhuvahini river in Madhuru has also risen up.

A huge tree near Uppala gate was uprooted and its fall brought down electricity cables and electricity poles along with it. Officials from the electricity department rushed to the spot and cut down the power supply thereby preventing any untoward incident. The fall tree also affected traffic movement for some time. However, regular flow of traffic was resumed after the tree was cleared.

In the next 24 hours, winds with the speed of up to 40-50 kmph are expected along the coast in the southwesterly direction and hence, fishermen from Kerala and Lakshwadeep have been advised by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) to not to venture out into the sea for fishing.