Landslides turn Wayanad's picturesque hamlets into destruction

Destroyed houses, swollen water bodies and broken branches of uprooted trees dot the high-range villages of Kerala's Wayanad, rocked by massive landslides on Tuesday.

Picturesque hamlets known for their beauty until Monday -- Mundakkai, Chooralmala, Attamala, and Noolpuzha -- are now a picture of gloom after landslides hit the areas, cutting them off from other places.

Vehicles washed away in floodwaters could be seen stuck in tree trunks and submerged here and there in many places.

Swollen water bodies changed their course and flowed through inhabited areas, resulting in more destruction.

Huge boulders, rolled down the hills and hindered the path of rescue workers.

Those engaged in rescue work could be seen shifting the dead and the injured into ambulances braving heavy rains.

As the landslides caused mass uprooting of trees and floodwaters washed away the green patches, the affected villages got a desert-like appearance in many places.

Twenty three people, including three children, were confirmed to have died in the landslides that hit the hilly Wayanad district on Tuesday, authorities said.

Of those killed, four people, including a child, died in the Chooralmala town of the district, while a one-year-old child of a family from Nepal died in Thondernad village, according to Wayanad district authorities.

Mundakkai, Chooralmala, Attamala, and Noolpuzha villages were among the areas affected and cut off by the landslides, authorities said.