Lucky escape for students as school roof collapses during Ramadan special leave

Kasaragod, Jun 30: In what could have been a major tragedy, a portion of the Government Junior Basic School at Peral, near Kumbla, caved in under incessant rain. It was indeed a lucky escape for students as the school was closed for Ramadan for the past few days.

The tile-roofed block, the middle portion of which caved in, housed Class 3 students. Senior Revenue and Education department officials visited the spot to assess the damage.

Kasaragod has been witnessing heavy rains in the past three days resulting in sharp rise in water level in major rivers here. Damage to property has been estimated at Rs.23,92,760.

The district has so far reported 1001.60 mm rainfall, which saw standing crops in 26.25 acres suffering damage. Five houses were destroyed and 115 were damaged.

Power supply was disrupted in several areas and vehicular movement was affected with huge trees falling across roads. No loss of life was reported during the day, official sources said. In view of unrelenting rain, the administration had declared Wednesday a holiday for all educational institutions barring professional colleges.

Though there was a letdown in heavy rain in the district since Wednesday noon, widespread damage to properties was reported in the heavy rain that lashed the district on Tuesday night. A house was destroyed and 47 houses were destroyed in the rain.

The district administration opened one more relief camp in Vythiri taluk.

Five members of two families in Kottathara village were shifted to the camp.

The damage to the houses is estimated to the tune of Rs.7.32 lakh. As many as 99 persons were shifted to four relief camps in the district in the past three days.