Dozens dead in Kerela as monsoon rain and floods wreak havoc
▶ Prime minister orders army and navy to step up rescues as the heavy weather is forecast to continue
Indian army helicopters rescued stranded families from rooftops and dam gates were thrown open as incessant torrential rain brought havoc on Thursday to the state of Kerala, where about 100 people are feared dead.
Hundreds of extra troops were moved to the southern state, a tourist destination, as the government issued a red alert over the region’s worst floods in decades.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan discussed the situation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who said he had ordered the defence ministry to intensify rescue and relief operations across Kerala.
State authorities said the death toll was 72 but officials and media reports said up to 30 more people were feared killed on Thursday in landslides and as rivers burst their banks, flooding scores of villages.
At least eight people were reported dead and 15 others, including a three-month-old infant, were trapped in three houses hit by a landslide near an irrigation dam in Malappuram district, the Hindu newspaper reported.
Authorities said many people were trapped in their houses. More than 60,000 people have sought refuge in relief camps.
“At least 6,500 people are stranded in parts of Kerala and the situation in three districts is particularly grim,” a state official said.
Kerala is battered by the monsoon every year, but this year’s damage has been severe.
The army said it had rescued scores of people by helicopter. Defence force personnel and government boats were also used in a rescue operation.
Authorities appealed for victims to stand in open fields or on rooftops away from trees so helicopters were not damaged during rescue efforts.
Army helicopters also dropped food packets and drinking water to some of the worst-affected districts.
The government said 10,000 kilometres of Kerala’s roads were destroyed or damaged and hundreds of homes lost.
It has ordered the opening of gates at 34 dams and reservoirs where water levels had reached danger levels.
Indian television channels showed cars and livestock being washed away in the floods and men and women wading through chest-high waters that had gushed into their homes.
Many residents used social media to send distress calls, some with video.
North and central Kerala was worst hit by the floods but all 14 of the state’s districts have been put on alert as heavy rain is forecast for several days.
In the main city of Kochi, the international airport was closed until at least Saturday because of flooding. Departures were cancelled while incoming flights have been diverted to other airports in India.
India’s civil aviation ministry said all domestic and foreign airlines had been asked to reschedule their Kochi flights from either Thiruvananthapuram or Kozhikode.
All public transport has been stopped with many buses abandoned in the road.
The floods have also disrupted celebrations of Onam, one of the festivals in the state, which began on Wednesday.
Elsewhere, eight people were swept away on Wednesday after a water surge hit a picnic in Madhya Pradesh state. Another 45 stranded were rescued on Thursday by police.