Pathar, a peaceful town in the Malappuram district of Kerala has been wiped off Kerala’s map due to heavy flooding and multiple landslides in the area. The entire town, including a culture centre, a mosque, and a few shops now lie barren amid heavy rain in the region, reports the Times of India.
Locals claim an entire neighbourhood of 40-50 houses was flattened, just 4 kms away from Pathar.
Within a few minutes, their concrete shops had vanished along with four concrete houses. The entire Pathaar Bazaar was wiped out by the furious floodwaters unleashed by a landslide on August 8 afternoon at Pothukal village near Nilambur.
A new river is flowing through Pathaar Bazaar now, with thousands of huge granite boulders strewn all over its course. The floods had carried large concrete slabs of houses to hundreds of metres away. A 500cc Royal Enfield Bullet owned by Sharif Mavungal was found eight kilometres away, all mangled.
Video from Pathar Angadi before Flood and Horrible Landslide
Giant tree trunks uprooted and cast down from the mountain several miles away are lying all over the place, a grim reminder of nature’s ungovernable power. The topography of a lush, serene village has changed overnight. For the past week, Pathaar has been one of the most sought-after destinations of disaster tourism in the State. People have been pouring in to Pathaar from all over the State either to help the people in distress or to see the destruction.
A ghost village
By 8 p.m., the place turns into a ghost village. The residents who ran to safety are yet to return. Many cannot return as there remains nothing as theirs. The newly formed river has taken away everything.
Over 50 people were trapped under the rubble, the roads were washed away and several houses in the upper part of the town Athiruveeti and Malamkundu, 1 km away from Pathar, were also affected.
A total of 8 landslides occured in the forests in this region, washing away 10 hectares of land along with rubber plantations in Pathar, Nilambur.
Source – scoopwhoop.
