Kottayam: A 24-year-old youth and his mother tragically lost their lives after a violent landslide buried their home in Payyanithottam, Poonjar, amidst continuous heavy rains battering Kerala. The deceased have been identified as Josephin, a canteen employee at Choondacherry Engineering College who had been resting at home due to an injured leg from a recent bike crash, and his mother Regina, a staff member at Holy Spirit Public School. The sheer force of the landslide, originating from the Edamala area, hurled massive boulders, trees, and mud down the slope, sweeping the family’s concrete house nearly thirty meters away from its foundation. Rescue teams consisting of five fire force units, four JCB machines, and local volunteers battled relentless rain and unstable terrain to retrieve their bodies from under heavy debris after hours of intense searching. The family patriarch, Johny, miraculously survived the ordeal because he was away staying overnight at an elderly neighbor’s home, while his two daughters were also away at the time of the catastrophe.
The tragedy in Poonjar is part of a broader deluge that has struck the hill districts of Kottayam, Idukki, and Pathanamthitta, claiming a total of four lives so far. In Idukki’s Kolahalamedu, a 72-year-old man named Prabhakaran Nair, who was visiting relatives from Vaikom, died when a mudslide engulfed a home, requiring a four-hour rescue operation to locate his body. Another fatal incident occurred at Adoor Mala in Kudayathoor, Idukki, where a woman named Sumathi lost her life after a massive wall of earth collapsed on a residential structure. Torrential downpours have pushed major rivers across the state past warning levels, causing severe flooding in hundreds of homes and shops, snapping road communications, and leaving several interior villages completely isolated.
State authorities and emergency teams are working around the clock to clear uprooted trees and mudslides blocking vital transport routes while moving affected residents to newly opened relief camps. Disaster Management Authority official Shekhar Kuriakose confirmed that the Revenue Minister is directly monitoring emergency measures, with heightened alerts issued for high-risk regions including Idukki, Kottayam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, and Upper Kuttanad. Officials have urged the public to exercise extreme caution as strong winds and saturated soil continue to pose severe risks of tree falls and further landslides. Meanwhile, the grieving community of Payyanithottam remains in deep shock over the tragic loss of a promising young life and a beloved mother, whose family home was reduced to a mound of mud and rocks overnight.
