As Kerala’s battle with the catastrophic flood entered 10th day on Saturday, tales of heart-rending suffering continued to emerge from different parts of the State. While dead bodies floated around in the swelling rivers, unidentified and unattended animals perished in hundreds.
Over 350 people have died in the rain fury since the monsoon hit Kerala on May 29. Of them about 200 reportedly died in the last 10 days. Nearly 3.14 lakh people have been moved to relief camps. The southern State is facing its worst flood in 100 years with gates of 80 dams opened and all rivers in spate.
Thousands of people are still perched on trees and rooftops. Even if the rain stopped, it would take days for the water level to come down. Those trapped people would pray and hope that rescuers were able to reach them in time.
A large number of people, including senior citizens, women and children were airlifted from isolated buildings, while many others were evacuated in Army boats, large fishing vessels and makeshift yachts, official sources said.
Packed house boats and rafts moving through inundated roads could be seen in all the flood-hit regions of the State. However, people in worst-hit places like Pathanamthitta and Chengannur said that hundreds were yet to be evacuated.
In many places, the local people were in the forefront of the evacuation along with defence and NDRF personnel. lack of information about the isolated areas and houses, where a large number of people are believed to be stuck, is a worrying factor for rescuers, official sources said.
Over 54,000 people were rescued in Ernakulam district, mainly in Paravur and Aluva taluks which had witnessed heavy rain and severe waterlogging in the past two days.
Over 600 students, who were stranded in a building on the campus of Sree Sankaracharya University at Kalady near Kochi, since the past two days, were rescued on Saturday, they said.
According to Navy sources, two sets of siblings from Kalady were rescued and brought to the naval base in Kochi and are waiting to join their parents.
The plantation town of Nelliyampathy in the battered Palakkad district is fully cut off as a bridge was washed away and massive boulders fell on a main road in incessant rain and landslides. Huge granite blocks, which had fallen from atop mountains, could be seen perched precariously amidst gushing floodwaters.
Youngsters could be seen helping women and the elderly cross the waters by lifting them. Fresh landslides were also reported in high range Idukki.
Dead bodies were seen floating in several places, including Pandanad, Aranmula and Nenmara, where a massive landslide was reported two days ago. Those returning home from relief camps were in for a shock, seeing muddy interiors of their homes, floating furniture, damaged books and reptiles and snails crawling inside.
District authorities have asked people living downstream of Kakki dam in Pathanamthitta to be vigilant as three of its four shutters were lifted up to 75 cm-90 cm. The weatherman has predicted heavy rain in various places of Kerala till August 20.
Idukki district received the maximum rainfall on Saturday with Munnar and Peermade towns recording 11 cm and 10 cms respectively, they said.
Agriculture crops in over 40,000 hectares have been destroyed, they said. Over 1,000 houses are fully destroyed and 26,000 partially. Officials said 134 bridges and 16,000 km of Public Works Department roads and 82,000 kms of local roads were completely destroyed, causing a total loss of Rs 21,000 crore.
Many of the relief camps have also been affected by the flood and water has started entering them. Providing eatables and drinking water at such large scale is turning out to be major challenge for the State machinery.
Giving Kerala a ray of hope, IMD has withdrawn red alert for the State on Sunday. An “orange” colour warning has been issued for three worst-affected districts -- Pathanamthitta, Idukki and Ernakulam. All other districts have been warned of yellow and green alert.