 Bodies found as floods recede in India's Kerala Kochi, India (AFP) Aug 20, 2018 - Floodwaters receded in Kerala on Monday, leaving Indian rescuers the grim task of retrieving bodies as the death toll from the worst monsoon rains in a century rose above 400. With nearly three quarters of a million people packed into relief camps in the southern state, known for its tourist beaches and hill resorts, authorities also fear outbreaks of disease. After more than a week of fierce downpours, rainfall eased Monday and flood levels fell in some districts. Army helicopters and boats kept up missions to find trapped survivors and drop food and water in isolated villages. The Indian government has declared the floods a "calamity of severe nature", a home ministry official told AFP. Officials said 22,000 people were rescued on Sunday. At least 30 bodies were also found, taking the death toll above 200 since the torrential rain started falling on August 8 and more than 400 since the monsoon started in June. At least 1,000 were feared stranded in five villages around Chengannur, one of the districts worst hit by the deluge. An Indian Navy team made a temporary rope bridge across a stream in Thrissur district on Sunday to rescue 100 people stranded for days. Commercial flight operations to Kochi, the state's main city, resumed Monday after the navy opened its airstrips for small passenger aircraft. The city's international airport has been ordered shut until Sunday. The floods have left widespread desolation in the city. Mumthaz fled her home in the Malikapeedika district of Kochi with her daughters aged 13 and nine last Thursday. She went to her husband's parents in another neighbourhood but within a few hours even that was also flooded and they had to be rescued and taken to a relief camp. - Hunt for missing - "It was surreal. The water was close to the knees at one point and within a few minutes it was touching five feet with a current so strong that we saw big cars floating like tin cans," said Mumthaz, who has only one name. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the priority now was to provide clean drinking water and restore power supplies to the state of 33 million people. "The total number of people taking refuge at the 5,645 relief camps has risen to 724,649," Vijayan told reporters Sunday. He said health officers would be deployed in each village to check the spread of communicable diseases. Thousands of army, navy and air force personnel have fanned out to help those stranded in remote and hilly areas. Dozens of helicopters have been dropping tonnes of food, medicine and water over areas cut off due to damaged roads and bridges. In the worst-hit areas such as Thrissur and Chengannur, rescuers searched inundated houses, discovering the bodies of those trapped by the fast rising floodwaters. "They didn't think that it would rise this high -- 10 to 15 feet (3-4.5 metres) at some places -- when the initial warnings were issued," said Ashraf Ali K.M., who is leading the search in the small town of Mala in Thrissur. Fishermen have sailed inland from Kerala's coast to join the search, as volunteers set up soup kitchens and an international appeal was made for financial help. The state government said each fishing boat would get 3,000 rupees ($43) for each day of work and that authorities would pay for any damage to them. The floods have caused an estimated $3 billion in damage but the bill is likely to rise as the scale of devastation becomes clearer. (file image only) |
The overpowering stench that fills the air in the Kerala town of Aluva is an inescapable reminder that while the filthy floodwaters may subside, the full toll of the devastating monsoon deluge will take time to emerge.
The rain had barely stopped falling in the town on the outskirts of the southern Indian state's main city, Kochi, and abandoned cars, sodden furniture and mattresses filled the streets while dirty black water still flowed above knee-level.
A foul smell greeted people arriving at the Union Christian College, where classrooms and halls became a relief camp for up to 4,000 at the peak of the floods.
Some have started to leave. Residents who remain speculated that the stench was from rubbish and dead cats, dogs and rats -- or worse.
"Maybe it's human," said one survivor.
More than 400 people have died since heavy rain hit Kerala in recent weeks, triggering deadly landslides and submerging entire villages as rivers burst their banks.
"This smell is of five days without a bath," said Savita Saha, one of the migrants in the big hall. There are long queues at the school's few toilets and no bathroom to wash in.
"Everyone here is wearing the clothes they had when they escaped," she said, squeezed onto a jute mat with her husband, who works at a cashew factory in Kochi.
In one classroom Rasitha Sojith, from the nearby neighbourhood of Kaprassery, sobbed as she told how she escaped through chest-high waters carrying her two-month-old son.
Sojith said water burst into her home without warning last Wednesday while her father and sister, with her three children, were visiting to see the new baby.
"With water rising fast, we only grabbed a few clothes for the baby and went to the first-floor terrace of the neighbour's house," she said.
Torrential rain fell for hours and they grew increasingly fearful of becoming trapped, until local fishermen rowed the family to safety the next day.
"Everything is lost. Everything! We don't even have money to go back to our neighbourhood," said Sojith.
"I don't think we will be leaving this camp any time soon."
- Muddy rubble -
An estimated 725,000 people are crammed into similar makeshift camps across Kerala.
Authorities have given a provisional damage toll of $3 billion but the extent of the destruction is likely to prove much greater, some officials and legislators say.
In the Malikampeedika area of Kochi, Mumthaz, who goes by one name, found the smell waiting for her when she returned home.
"This muddy rubble and stench is all that is left of our memories," Mumthaz told AFP, as she dragged out mud-caked mattresses and a sofa set, damaged utensils and even her daughters' school awards.
As word spread of flood warnings, Mumthaz had taken her two daughters on Thursday to the home of her parents-in-law in another neighbourhood.
But floodwater soon surged through their house as well and the whole family had to be rescued.
"It was surreal. The water was close to the knees at one point and within a few minutes it was touching five feet, with a current so strong that we saw big cars floating like tin cans," she said.
With her husband searching for work in Dubai, Mumthaz knows she will struggle to look after her daughters, with the family facing an uncertain future after the nightmare of the floods.
"There is no kitchen, electricity and water here. I don't know how long it will take before I will be back... (in) my home," she said.
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Flood toll rises to 77 in India's Kerala state
Kochi, India (AFP) Aug 16, 2018
The death toll from floods in India's tourist hotspot of Kerala increased to 77 on Thursday, as torrential rainfall threatened new areas, officials told AFP.
Over 60,000 people have now entered relief camps and the army and navy have stepped up rescue operations in the southern state, using a helicopter to airlift people, a Kerala disaster management official said.
"All districts are under red alert as more rains are expected in the next 24 hours," the official added.
The death toll rose by ... read more
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