The state of Kerala and its people are sort of having a deja vu moment. An entire cluster of homes of plantation workers at a tea estate in Wayanad was swept away by a landslide on Thursday evening. Several are trapped under the debris and 200 are injured, officials said. Hundred people have been rescued, while two bodies have been found. Officials said the rescue operation may take 12 hours.
Teams of the Army, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the fire department are at the site. 22 people have been killed, flight operations at Cochin International Airport in Kerala have been stopped till 3 pm on Sunday due to heavy rain, airport officials said today.
The water level in Periyar river and a canal near the airport has been rising. Flight operations were stopped till 9 am today, but it had to be extended after the apron area at the Kochi airport got flooded, Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) posted on its Facebook page.
A red alert has been issued for nine districts Ernakulam, Idukki, Thrissur, Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kannur and Kasargod in Kerala where rains have left some villages submerged and isolated from the rest of the state. Around 22,165 people have been evacuated to safety and are lodged in 315 camps across the state.
Schools and colleges are shut in all 14 districts of the southern state today, except state capital Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam. 42 lakh in Maharashtra, 45,000 in Karnataka, 8,000 in Kerala and 20,000 in Andhra Pradesh have been evacuated so far.
Here are the Highlights on Rain in Kerala, Maharashtra, Goa and Andhra Pradesh:
As many as thirty families are feared missing after a landslide occurred at Kavalappara, Nilambur, in Malappuram district on Thursday evening. The rescue teams were able to reach the incident spot only by today afternoon.
Joint rescue teams comprising personnel from Fire and Emergency Department, State Disaster Response Force, National Disaster Response Force and Army have evacuated 1,24,291 people so far, an official statement said Friday.
The cumulative figure for yesterday was 43,858.
Nine additional NDRF teams have been airlifted for rescue operations including five to Belagavi and two to Kodagu, the statement said.
On Thursday night, the Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) announced that flight operations would be suspended till 9 am on Friday as a precautionary measure in view of heavy rains lashing the region. Flights coming to the airport were diverted.
The situation continued to be grim on Friday.
"Kochi Airport closes operations till 1500 hrs of Sunday (11/08/2019)," a statement said on Friday, according to PTI.
A CIAL spokesperson said the runway area of the airport is waterlogged due to the flood.
Operations were suspended as water levels rose in the Periyar river and a canal adjacent to the airport due to heavy rain.
The current flood situation in different parts of the country and the preparedness of central ministries and agencies to deal with it was reviewed at a high-level meeting chaired by Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai.
The Director General of the NDRF apprised the meeting that 83 NDRF teams have been positioned with all necessary equipment in vulnerable areas of the four flood-affected states, a home ministry statement said.
These teams are in addition to the 173 teams of Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard.
An NDRF team comprises around 45 personnel.
Flight operations at Cochin International Airport in Kerala have been stopped till 3 pm on Sunday due to heavy rain, airport officials said today. The water level in Periyar river and a canal near the airport has been rising. Flight operations were stopped till 9 am today, but it had to be extended after the apron area at the Kochi airport got flooded, Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) posted on its Facebook page.