Thousands await rescue as flooding in Kerala kills hundreds
Video report by ITV News Correspondent Juliet Bremner
Thousands of stranded people are waiting for rescue as relentless monsoon floods batter the south Indian state of Kerala.
More than 320 people have died in a little over a week and much of the state is at least partially submerged.
And more than 300,000 people have taken shelter in 1,500 state-run relief camps, officials said, but authorities and local media outlets said they were being inundated with calls for assistance.
“We are receiving multiple repetetitive 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, landmarks and the number of stranded people when they call for help.
Dramatic footage has captured the moment an entire block of houses was swept away down a hill in Kerala.
Luckily the 40 residents of the homes had already been evacuated, but scores of others have lost their lives in the flooding and a state of emergency has been declared.
After the torrential rains stopped on Friday, rescue workers used helicopters and boats to evacuate 1,200 people stranded on rooftops to state-run camps where more than 150,000 people already have taken shelter.
Heavy rains over the past eight days triggered flooding, landslides and home and road bridge collapses, as well as severely disrupting air and train services in Kerala state, a popular tourist destination with beautiful beaches.
State officials have put the death toll at 164 since August 8, while a total of 324 people have died in the state during this summer's monsoon season.
It is thought that may of those killed were crushed under debris in landslides.
Water has been released from dams and reservoirs which has only contributed to the flooding caused by the rain.
Monsoon rains kill hundreds of people every year in India. The season runs from June to September.
The flooding has severely hit 12 of Kerala’s 14 districts,forcing 223,000 people to flee their homes, with 100 destroyed in just one week in one of the 14.
Crops over 80,300 acres of land have also been damaged, the Home Ministry said.
The international airport at Kochi, a major port city, suspended flight operations until Saturday after the runway was flooded. Authorities also asked tourists to stay away from the popular hill station of Munnar in Idukki district because of flooding.
India’s National Emergency Response Centre said more than 900 people have died in seven states since the start of the monsoon season in June.
A total of 324 have died in Kerala, 190 in Uttar Pradesh, 183 in West Bengal, 139 in Maharashtra, 52 in Gujarat, 45 in Assam and 11 in Nagaland state, the Press Trust of India reported.