People who returned to their homes found many precious items were destroyed. (AFP)
A 19-year-old allegedly committed suicide on finding that his Class 12 certificates were damaged in the devastation caused by monsoon in Kerala's Kozhikode district, police said.
With his house flooded in the downpour, the teenager, Kailash, and his parents, from Karanthur in Kozhikode district, had moved to a relief camp three days ago.
Kailash had got admission for a course in the Industrial Training Institute (ITI) and had bought new clothes and set apart some money for higher studies, they said.
As the rain eased for a while, he returned home on Saturday to take a look at the house and was shocked to find his Class 12 certificates soaked in water and in tatters.
A police officer said the student's death came to light later in the day when his parents came to clean up the house as the water receeded.
They were shocked to see him hanging, police said.
His shattered father, a labourer, had pinned all his hopes on his son as all their belongings had mostly been destroyed in the rain.
In the worst-affected Chengannur in Alappuzha district, a woman was wailing saying she had lost her Aadhaar card, Ration card and all ID proofs.
"All my belongings, my Aadhaar and Ration cards and ID proofs are all gone. Only I am alive. My relatives do not even know that I exist," she mourned.
At least 191 people have died in the Kerala floods since August 8 and lakhs of people were fored to take shelter in relief camps in the state.
(Kerala has to rebuild itself after the worst floods in over a century. Hundreds have died and lakhs are homeless. Here is how you can help.)