NEW DELHI – India issued a fresh flood alert Wednesday for parts of thesouthern state of Kerala, as the nationwide death toll from the annualmonsoon deluge rose to at least 244.
Authorities warned Kerala locals of heavy rainfall over the next 24-48hours in some of the worst affected regions of the state popular withtourists.
Heavy rain in parts of four Indian states — Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtraand Gujarat — has forced more than 1.2 million people to leave their homes,mostly for government-run relief camps.
Kerala was hit by its worst floods in almost a century last year when 450people died, and the state is still recovering from the damage to publicinfrastructure including highways, railways and roads.
The state’s death toll this monsoon season increased to 95 overnight, withat least 59 people missing, Kerala police told AFP on Wednesday.
At least 58 people have also lost their lives in neighbouring Karnatakastate, where authorities have rescued around 677,000 people from floodedregions.
The situation is now improving in Karnataka, however, as waters start torecede, a government official told AFP.
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In the western states of Gujarat and Maharashtra, the death toll reached91, with hundreds of thousands rescued from inundated regions.
“Our teams have recovered 49 bodies so far from different regions includingSangli, Kolhapur, Satara and Pune, and most deaths were caused due todrowning and wall collapse,” Deepak Mhaisekar, divisional commissioner ofPune told AFP.
“The situation is under control now,” he added, though the casualty countmay increase slightly.India has deployed the army, navy and air force to work with the localemergency personnel for search, rescue and relief operations.
The monsoon rains are crucial to replenishing water supplies indrought-stricken India, but they kill hundreds of people across the countryevery year. -APP/AFP
