Thousands stranded as floods submerge Indian state
Thousands of stranded people were waiting to be rescued and officials pleaded for more help from relentless monsoon floods that have partially submerged the southern Indian state of Kerala, where more than 190 have died in a little over a week.
Heavy rains hit parts of the state again at the weekend, slowing attempts to deploy rescuers and get relief supplies to isolated areas. Many have seen no help for days and can only be reached by boat or helicopter.
More than 300,000 people have taken shelter in over 1500 state-run relief camps. But authorities said they were being inundated with calls for assistance.
“We are receiving multiple repetitive rescue requests,” the office of the state’s top official, Pinarayi Vijayan, said in a tweet, asking those in need to provide their exact location and nearby landmarks so rescuers can find them. Officials have called it the worst flooding in Kerala in a century, with rainfall in some areas well over double that of a typical monsoon season.
The downpours that started on August 8 have triggered floods and landslides and caused homes and bridges to collapse across Kerala.
Officials estimate more than 10,000km of roads have been damaged. One of the state’s major airports, in the city of Kochi, has been closed. Meteorologists expect the rains to ease up over the next few days.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inspected the flooded landscape from a helicopter and met the state’s top officials, promising more than US$70 million in aid. While the central Government has dispatched multiple military units to Kerala, state officials are pleading for additional help.
Modi said 38 helicopters had been deployed for search and rescue operations in the state, which has a population of more than 33 million. Initial storm damage estimates were nearly US$2.8 billion, Vijayan said.
At least 194 people have died in the flooding and 36 more are missing.