Landslide kills family of five in Kerala State, India.

Five members of a family have died after a landslide swept their house away in Kerala State, India, on Monday 29 August 2022. The incident happened in the village of Kudayathoor, in Idukki District, at about 4.15 am local time, following heavy rains overnight associated with the seasonal monsoon. Landslides are a common problem after severe weather events, as excess pore water pressure can overcome cohesion in soil and sediments, allowing them to flow like liquids. Approximately 90% of all landslides are caused by heavy rainfall.  

Rescue workers recover the body of a woman who died when a landslide struck her family home in the village of Kudayathoor in Kerala State, India, on 29 August 2022. Reju Arnold/On Manorama.

The deceased have been identified as homeowner Chittadichaalil Soman, his mother Thankamma (74), his wife Shiji, their daughter Shima (25), and her son Devanand (4), with all the bodies recovered within five hours of the original incident. The area is still thought to be unstable, presenting a risk to nearby households, and local authorities are assessing the need to evacuate the entire community.

Monsoons are tropical sea breezes triggered by heating of the land during the warmer part of the year (summer). Both the land and sea are warmed by the Sun, but the land has a lower ability to absorb heat, radiating it back so that the air above landmasses becomes significantly warmer than that over the sea, causing the air above the land to rise and drawing in water from over the sea; since this has also been warmed it carries a high evaporated water content, and brings with it heavy rainfall. In the tropical dry season the situation is reversed, as the air over the land cools more rapidly with the seasons, leading to warmer air over the sea, and thus breezes moving from the shore to the sea (where air is rising more rapidly) and a drying of the climate.

Diagrammatic representation of wind and rainfall patterns in a tropical monsoon climate. Geosciences/University of Arizona.

Kerala has a complex seasonal cycle, driven by the presence of the Western Ghats mountain range, which largely block the dry northerly winds which dominate the climate of much of India, and its proximity to the equator, which leads to a double monsoon system. Such a double Monsoon Season is common close to the equator, where the Sun is highest overhead around the equinoxes and lowest on the horizons around the solstices, making the solstices the coolest part of the year and the equinoxes the hottest. In Kerala this results in a Southwest Monsoon, which lasts from May to September, and is driven by winds from the southern Arabian Sea dumping water onto the Western Ghats, followed by a Northwest Monsoon, which lasts from October to December, where winds from the Bay of Bengal do the same. Of the two monsoons, the southwest is the wetter, due to the proximity of the sea, with June typically being the wettest month, with an average of 341 mm of rain falling in the month

See also....

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Twitter.

Landslide feared to have killed more than fifty in Kerala State, India.

Twenty eight people have been confirmed dead and another twenty seven are missing after a landslide swept through the village of Adyanpara in Malappuram District, Kerala, at about 8.00 pm on Thursday 8 August 2019.  Local authorities had warned that part of the Bhoothathan-Muthappan Mountain above the community was unsafe and tried to organise an evacuation, but many people had refused to leave. Around 35 homes are reported to have been destroyed by the landslide.

 

The aftermath of a landslide that hit the village of Adyanpara in Malappuram District, Kerala, on 8 August 2019. Shaju John/The Hindu.

The incident happened after 240 mm of rain fell within a 24 hour period, associated with the Southwest Monsoon, which lasts from May to September in Kerala.. Landslides are a common problem after severe weather events, as excess pore water pressure can overcome cohesion in soil and sediments, allowing them to flow like liquids. Approximately 90% of all landslides are caused by heavy rainfall. 

Monsoons are tropical sea breezes triggered by heating of the land during the warmer part of the year (summer). Both the land and sea are warmed by the Sun, but the land has a lower ability to absorb heat, radiating it back so that the air above landmasses becomes significantly warmer than that over the sea, causing the air above the land to rise and drawing in water from over the sea; since this has also been warmed it carries a high evaporated water content, and brings with it heavy rainfall. In the tropical dry season the situation is reversed, as the air over the land cools more rapidly with the seasons, leading to warmer air over the sea, and thus breezes moving from the shore to the sea (where air is rising more rapidly) and a drying of the climate.

 Diagrammatic representation of wind and rainfall patterns in a tropical monsoon climate. Geosciences/University of Arizona.

Kerala has a complex seasonal cycle, driven by the presence of the Western Ghats mountain range, which largely block the dry northerly winds which dominate the climate of much of India, and its proximity to the equator, which leads to a double monsoon system. Such a double Monsoon Season is common close to the equator, where the Sun is highest overhead around the equinoxes and lowest on the horizons around the solstices, making the solstices the coolest part of the year and the equinoxes the hottest. In Kerala this results in a Southwest Monsoon, which lasts from May to September, and is driven by winds from the southern Arabian Sea dumping water onto the Western Ghats, followed by a Northwest Monsoon, which lasts from October to December, where winds from the Bay of Bengal do the same. Of the two monsoons, the southwest is the wetter, due to the proximity of the sea, with June typically being the wettest month, with an average of 341 mm of rain falling in the month.

See also...

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

Crocodile attacks man in Karnataka State, India.

A man is recovering in a hospital in Dharwad after being attacked by a Crocodile in the Kali River near the village of Nirmal Nagar in Dandeli District in the Western Ghats of Karnataka State, India, on Friday 7 December 2018. Nagesh Eshwar Ballari,, 43, a day-labourer, was bathing in the river with his wife and son, when he was dragged into the water by the animal. He was found shortly afterwards by a search party made up of local people, Forest Department officials, and a water sports adventure team that was in the area, and taken to the hospital suffering from multiple injuries and severe shock.

Crocodiles in River Kali, near Dandeli, Karnataka. Lakshmikanth Itnal.

Crocodile attacks on Humans are relatively rare, but they are opportunistic ambush predators and will potentially attack anything going close to the water. Saltwater Crocodiles, Crocodylus porosus, the species responsible for almost all attacks on Humans in India, have a particularly poor reputation for such behaviour, being the largest species of Crocodile and notoriously aggressive. These Crocodiles are one of the few Crocodile species not considered vulnerable to extinction, being found from India to Australia  and inhabiting many areas that Humans shun, such as Mangrove forests and islands without fresh water. Unfortunately they are also found in rivers in the Indo-Pacific region, where rising Human populations is leading to increasing conflict with many animal species.

See also...

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

Nyctibatrachus mewasinghi: A new species of Night Frog from the Western Ghats of India.

Night Frogs, Nyctibatrachus spp., are a groups of robust-bodied Frogs found only in the Western Ghats mountain range of southwest India. They get their name from their dark colouration and nocturnal habits. They were formerly placed in the True Frog family, Ranidae, but are now recognised as belonging to a distinct family of their own, the Nyctibatrachidae, which includes only one other Frog, the Sri Lankan Wart Frog, Lankanectes corrugatus.

In a paper published in the Journal of Threatened Taxa on 26 December 2017, Keerthi Krutha of the Wildlife Information Liaison Development Society, Neelesh Dahanukar of the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, and the Systematics, Ecology and Conservation Laboratory at the Zoo Outreach Organization, and Sanjay Molur, also of the Systematics, Ecology and Conservation Laboratory at the Zoo Outreach Organization,describe a new species of Night Frog from the Malabar Wildlife Sanctuary, in Kerela State, India.

The new species is named Nyctibatrachus mewasinghi, in honour of Mewa Singh of the University of Mysore, the Institution of Excellence, and the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research. The species is small for a Night Frog, reaching 21-23 mm in length as adults, and grayish brown in colour with a lighter underside. The Frogs were found at a single location, a drainage stream near the Peruvannamuzhi Dam.

Nyctibatrachus mewasinghi, female speciemen. Krutha et al. (2018).

See also...

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.