VITHURA: Heavy rain has been reported in the hilly regions in Thiruvananthapuram district. It has been raining heavily for two days in the Ponmudi, Bonakkad, Peppara and Kallar regions. After hours of heavy rain in the Ponmudi forest area since yesterday morning, Kallar experienced heavy flash floods. Trees and rocks were washed away from the forest. The river was in a turbulent state. There were minor landslides at two places on the Ponmudi road. Due to the flash flood, the agricultural land has been extensively eroded. Crops were destroyed by water.

Two bridges on the Vamanapuram River were submerged for several hours due to flash floods. Ponnamchund and Chettachal bridges remained underwater. With this, the traffic on the Vithura-Thennur-Palode route was interrupted. All the low-lying areas of Vithura, Tholicode and Aryanad panchayats are submerged in water. Power supply was also disrupted after heavy rains caused trees to fall.

Shutters of Peppara dam raised

The water level in the Peppara Dam has risen significantly following heavy rainfall in the catchment area of the dam. Following this, the four shutters were again raised by twenty centimeters each yesterday. The shutters of the Aruvikkara and Neyyar Dams have also been raised. The district collector said that people living near the dams should remain alert.

Ponmudi closed

As an orange alert has been sounded due to the heavy rains, tourists have been restricted in Ponmudi till further notice, the District Collector said. DFO KI Pradeep Kumar said that permission will not be given to visit Kallar Meenmutty Falls.