Kerala floods: It is very bad and getting worse

KOCHI/THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Most parts of Kerala were flooded following heavy non-stop rains for the past two days, displacing thousands of people and disrupting life to an extent never before witnessed in the state in living memory. The official toll from rain and floods since August 8 has been put at 86, with 46 deaths reported on Thursday alone, but was expected to be several times that number as rescuers struggled to reach far flung locations where hundreds of people, including women, children and the aged, were feared trapped on terraces of homes, atop tall buildings and, in one case, in a marooned church.

The meteorological department has forecast heavy, incessant rains till Saturday and the situation was worsening in several places, including Kochi where the backwaters are threatening to overflow their banks. Kochi international airport has been closed till August 26. Train services from the state capital have been suspended and Kochi Metro operations drastically cut short.

A huge rescue and relief operation is in progress, with the army, navy and several non-governmental agencies also pitching in, yet by Thursday evening it was becoming evident that the scope of the disaster was outpacing current efforts to cope with it. A fresh red alert was issued onThursday in 13 of 14 districts. All nine flood monitoring stations of Central Water Commission in Kerala have notified ‘Extreme Flood Situation’. More than 80,000 people are presently lodged in relief camps and damage to crops and properties across the state is estimated to be over Rs 8,000 crore. In Wayanad alone, more than 20,000 people are in relief camps.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other central leaders on Thursday to request more help. A total of 52 teams of the army, air force, navy, Coast Guard and NDRF are already engaged in rescue and relief operations, and 2,182 people have been rescued and 968 evacuated so far by NDRF, army and navy teams. After a meeting of National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) early on Thursday, the central government decided to scale up rescue operations. It has decided to send 35 more NDRF teams comprising nearly 1,000 personnel. "The first 12 teams will reach Kerala by Thursday evening. The rest 23 teams are being sent gradually. The teams have been equipped for assisting the state government authorities in launching quick relief, rescue, medical aid and food distribution tasks in both daytime and at night," NDRF director general Sanjay Kumar told PTI.

Pathanamthitta district continued to be the worst affected over the last 24 hours as thousands of people were stranded in their homes in the towns of Ranni, Aranmula and Kozhencherry. The water level in several parts of Pathanamthitta district and some parts of Ernakulam and Thrissur districts rose to as high as 20 feet, turning streets into deep lakes and rescuers deploying inflatable boats to evacuate people to safety. Landslides were reported in Kannur, Wayanad, Kozhikode, Malappuram and Idukki districts. Renowned tourist destination Munnar remained submerged for the third day, while Sabarimala was cut off with the Pamba river in spate.