High death toll in Kerala floods

– Rescuers waded into submerged villages in southern India yesterday in a desperate search for survivors cut off for days by floods that have already killed more than 350 people.

Entire villages in Kerala have been swept away in the state’s worst floods in a century and emergency responders fear the death toll will rise as they reach areas almost entirely underwater.

In Thrissur, one of the worst-hit districts, rescuers have discovered the bodies of those unable to escape as the floodwaters quickly rose.

The death toll stands at 357, local officials said, with 33 killed in just the last 24 hours. –

Thrissur