NEW DELHI – Hundreds of troops led a desperate operation to rescue familiestrapped by mounting floods in India’s Kerala state Thursday as the deathtoll reached 106 with nearly 150,000 left homeless.
Helicopters airlifted stranded victims from rooftops and dam gates werethrown open as incessant torrential rain brought fresh havoc to thesouthern state that is a major international tourist draw.
Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the state now faces an“extremely grave” crisis with more downpours predicted. The region’s mainairport has been ordered closed until August 26.
The state, famed for palm-lined beaches at resorts such as Bekal and teaplantations, is always battered by the annual monsoon but this year’sdamage has been the worst in almost a century.ARTICLE CONTINUES AFTER AD
The death toll had jumped to 106 late Thursday, a state disaster managementofficial told *AFP*.
Media reports said up to 30 more people were feared dead in landslides andrivers that burst their banks, flooding scores of villages.
At least eight people were killed when an irrigation dam burst and alandslide hit three houses in the town of Nenmara, Palakkad district,authorities said.
Vijayan said 80 dams have reached danger levels and appealed to thepopulation not to ignore evacuation orders.
Army and coastguard helicopters, lifeboats and navy diving teams have beenbrought to the stricken state where an extra 540 troops were deployed onThursday.
More are due in coming days.
The army said helicopters carried out scores of rescue operations. Theyalso dropped food and water and appealed for victims to stand in openfields or on rooftops away from trees so helicopters were not damagedduring rescue efforts.
One state official said more than 1,330 camps have been opened acrossKerala and 147,000 people had sought shelter by Thursday evening.
“At least 6,500 people are stranded in different parts of Kerala and thesituation in three districts is particularly grim,” a separate statedisaster management official told *AFP*.
Floods have also hit other states, including Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh,where eight people at a popular picnic spot were swept away by a suddensurge of water.’Please help’
In Kerala families could be seen paddling boats provided by the military,while in some areas families commandeered local wooden boats to ferrythemselves to safety.
The government says 10,000 kilometres (6,000 miles) of Kerala roads havebeen destroyed or damaged and hundreds of homes lost.
It has ordered the opening of gates at 34 dams and reservoirs where waterlevels reached danger levels.
Indian television broadcast images of cars and livestock washed away in thefloods while men and women waded through chest-high waters that flowedthrough village streets.
Many used social media to send rooftop distress calls, some with video.
A member of parliament from Kerala, Shashi Tharoor, shared on Twitter anappeal for help made by a woman who said she was trapped on the third floorof a temple with phone batteries running out.
“Over 36 people including myself and family stranded here. Phone networkand charge finishing please help in any possible way,” Devika Sreekumarsaid in the Facebook post.
Greeta Mathew pleaded for help for her family in a Twitter message.
“Anybody reading this,PLZ HELP. My relatives are stuck on the upper floorof house with an 8 months pregnant lady, in Edayaranmula, Pathanamthittadist. All rescue control rooms’ numbers busy. No rescue team reached yet.No contact with family since last evening,” she said.
North and central Kerala has been worst hit by the floods but all 14 of thestate’s districts have been put on “red alert” as heavy rain is predictedfor several days.
In the main city of Kochi, the international airport will remain closeduntil at least August 26, authorities said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday on Twitter that he hasordered the defence ministry “to further step up the rescue and reliefoperations across the state. Praying for the safety and well-being of thepeople of Kerala”. – APP/AFP