Water Levels in Kerala Begin to Recede While Rescue and Relief Operations Continue
An official from the Indian Meteorological Department has informed that the rains are likely to decrease in the next few hours.
Finally, Kerala has received respite after incessant rains for the past two weeks. Now the focus is on rescuing people who are stranded in flooded areas and providing relief to victims in the form of materials, clothes, and medicines.
The good news is that there has been a sharp decrease in rainfall on Sunday and water levels have begun to reside in most parts of the flooded areas. An official from the Indian Meteorological Department has informed that the rains are likely to decrease in the next few hours. Most of the flood warnings have been withdrawn across the state. The department’s Director Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said “There is no red or amber colour code warning for any district today. For tomorrow, the colour warning is green.”
Rescue and Relief operations continue
Over 160 people have lost their lives in the worst floods to have hit Kerala in decades. According to the armed forces, 23, 213 have been rescued so far in the past few days. At least 1000 people are still stranded at five villages around Chengannur.
More than 5,645 relief camps have been set up across the state of Kerala which is sheltering over 7 lakh people.
These victims are being provided with clothes, medicines, and shelter, however, there have been reports of shortage of medicine, fuel, and freshwater. 60 tonnes of medicines have come in from Hindon and 70 doctors have arrived from the Mumbai in the state’s capital.
Fishing workers have got involved in the rescue operations. Mr. Vijayan promised that all the boats will receive Rupees 3000 for each day of work. 3,700 medical camps have been set up across Kerala and patients are being continuously monitored to ensure there is no spread of deadly diseases.
A team at the center and civil aviation ministry gave permission for flight operations at the Navy’s air station at Kochi. A 70 seater Alliance ATR plane landed in Kochi and has been booked completely to return to Bangalore. Various other airlines are likely to fly to Kochi.
The chief minister of Kerala said “What prevails in Kerala is not a situation that is going out of control. Things have improved a lot.” He added that every year there is a generous amount of flooding, however, this year the quantity of rainfall was 250% more than usual that made all the difference, leading to the opening of the floodgates of already overfilled dams.
The amount of loss and destruction to state and personal property would be difficult to ascertain at this juncture however according to the Mr. Vijayan at least 83,000 km of roads will have to be repaired. Around 20,000 homes and 40,000 hectares of crops are also said to be destroyed. Medical camps and officials now have a tough task in hand, to prevent the outbreak of waterborne diseases.