Kerala Floods: State Fights, Death Toll Rises to 31

Thousands of people are left homeless, agricultural lands are swept away, sections of roads and buildings have collapsed, all the water bodies have overflowed, tourists are stranded in severe flooding, and landslides and landslips are adding to the damage, as more than half of Kerala is dealing with floods that have claimed lives of 29 people so far. Five missing cases have also been reported.

In Idukki, landslides in various parts of the districts have claimed lives of 12 people since August 8. Four people have died in Wayanad due to landslips. Landslip claimed lives of six people in the Nilambur region of the Malappuram district too. Again, two from Kannur have died in a landslip. So far, two drowning deaths have been reported from Ernakulam and Palakkad and one from Kozhikode.

High range areas of the state, especially Wayanad, Idukki, eastern parts of Malappuram, Kozhikode and Kannur districts, are the worst-hit by severe landslides and landslips that have followed the heavy downpour. However, the low land and middle land areas of the state are submerged since the state has been receiving heavy rain for the past three days.

A total of 57,744 people have moved to various relief camps all across the state. Rescue operations are underway, and 457 relief camps were built up to house 13,857 families from the affected areas, an official from the State Disaster Management Authority told Newsclick. In Wayanad only, 130 camps are functioning with 2,744 families and 10,949 inmates. While in Ernakulam, there are 68 camps with 2832 families so far.

The vigorous South-West monsoon has led to the opening of all five shutters of the Cheruthoni Dam – part of Idukki hydel reservoir project – after 26 years. Apart from Idukki Dam, one of the largest arch dams in Asia, 24 other dams were opened to drain the excess water.

The State Disaster Management Authority has issued a red alert in Wayanad, Idukki, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Palakkad, Ernakulam, Kottayam and Alappuzha. The red alert would be in effect till August 14 for Wayanad and August 13 for Idukki, while rest of the districts are advised to be alerted till Saturday. The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services has also issued a tidal flooding alert for the state from August 11 to 15. Though there is a slight decrease in the downpour on Saturday, India Meteorological Department forecast says the state would witness rains for the next 48 hours.

"The rains have slowed down in and around the Idukki dam since last night and hence the water level in the dam has also come down," State Power Minister M.M. Mani said.

"So far, things are fine and everything is going as planned. The water that came down the five floodgates, barring at Cheruthoni, has not caused any major crisis," added Mani, who is monitoring the situation.

Cheruthoni is the nearest town to the Idamalayar dam and with water gushing down the spillway for the first time in 26 years, there was heavy flooding in the area.

The Cheruthoni Bridge continued to be submerged. It had come under severe stress with huge trees that were uprooted hit the bridge. The water level at the Idukki dam was now at 2,401 feet after it came down on Friday night as the intensity of the rains decreased. On Saturday, the inflow into the dam stood at 6 lakh liters of water per second, while the outflow through the floodgates is 7.50 lakh liters per second.

Authorities on Friday expected that parts of Ernakulam and Thrissur districts would be submerged following the opening of all the five floodgates. However, this did not happen, as the dam water entered the tributaries of the Periyar river in a systematic manner.

According to the sources, if the water level in the dam comes down to 2,400 feet, it was likely to bring down the outflow through the five shutters as well – to around 5 lakh liters per second.

As the flood situation prevails in the state, the state machinery along with the ruling coalition and opposition parties has been working rigorously to rescue all the people from the affected areas. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) along with Airforce, Navy and Army are deployed in the state as per the immediate request of the state.

Saturday morning, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, along with Revenue minister E Chandrasekharan, Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala, Chief Secretary Tom Jose and Kerala Police Chief Loknath Behra, visited the calamity-affected areas, and announced an ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh to the kin of the deceased and Rs 10 lakh to those who had lost their house and land in the natural calamity.

Even though their first stop was planned at Idukki, Vijayan wrote in his Facebook post that due to bad weather conditions at the landing area in Kattapana, they have been forced to travel to Wayanad.

The chief minister made the announcement while presiding over a review meeting called held here to discuss the loss and destruction caused due to the heavy rains over the past four days. Each person put up in relief camps would receive Rs 3,800, Vijayan said.

Vijayan and his team also visited the camps and interacted with the people. They pledged them all help and support.

CM has also appealed the people to contribute money to Kerala state distress fund. Here are the details on how you can help.