Toll up to 53 in Kerala, 7 N-E districts flooded

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM/KOZHIKODE: With the recovery of bodies of four more victims of a landslide, the toll rose to 53 on Saturday in rain related incidents in Kerala since the onset of the south west monsoon late last month.

State minister T P Ramakrishnan, who visited Kattipara, where the landslide occurred, said the government would extend help to the victims for rebuilding homes and purchase of land.

More than 25,000 people affected by the incessant rain in the state have been shifted to relief camps set up in different parts of the state, officials said.

Meanwhile, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan asked his Kar- nataka counterpart HD Kumaraswamy to repair the damaged Perumbadi-makkudam road in the Thalassery-mysore interstate road, traffic on which has been banned. Authorities issued an alert with the water level in Peppara dam in Thiruvananthapuram district touching 107.20 meters against its maximum of 107.5 metres.

N-E STILL FLOODED

GUWAHATI: The flood situation in the seven affected districts of Assam continued to remain grim on Saturday with more areas getting submerged. Three deaths were reported taking the total number of deaths in the first spate of floods this season to six.

Details given by state disaster management authority revealed that over 4.25 lakh people are affected in 716 villages.