Kerala: The death toll in Kerala in the current spell of heavy rains climbed to 174, and to 324 overall this monsoon season, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Friday, as the ‘grave’ situation triggered by the state’s worst floods in a century left thousands homeless, destroyed crops, and disrupted air, rail and road traffic for a week.
While rain has abated and will lessen in the next 24 hours till Saturday, the relief could be short-lived as the ‘vigorous’ southwest monsoon over Kerala will bring in more heavy spells during the weekend in the state, besides Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, the regional weather office said.
Heavy rains are forecast for isolated places over north Kerala, coastal Karnataka and its south interior parts on August 19. However, the red alert has been withdrawn from two districts of Thiruvananthapuram and Kasargode out of the state’s 14, according to officials.
“Kerala is facing its worst flood in 100 years. 80 dams opened, 324 lives lost and 223139 people are in about 1500+ relief camps. Your help can rebuild the lives of the affected,” chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in a tweet, citing the overall toll this monsoon season.