Kerala On High Alert : 37 Dead, 30,000 In Relief Camps
KOCHI : Rough to very rough sea conditions are likely to prevail over west central Arabian Sea. Fishermen are advised not to venture into this area. Heavy to very heavy rains are expected in 16 States, including Kerala, Uttarakhand and West Bengal, in next two days with fishermen are advised not to venture into central Arabian sea, the NDMA said on August 11.
In a statement, the National Disaster Management Authority said heavy rains are also expected in large areas along the Bay of Bengal.
Red warning for heavy to very heavy rain at a few places with extremely heavy falls at isolated places very likely over Uttarakhand on August 12 and August 13, the NDMA said quoting a bulletin of the India Meteorological Department.
Rough to very rough sea conditions are likely to prevail over west central Arabian Sea. Fishermen are advised not to venture into this area, it said.
Heavy to very heavy rains are likely at isolated places over Uttarakhand, Sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, coastal Andhra Pradesh, coastal Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
As many as 718 people have lost their lives in incidents related to floods and rains in seven States during the monsoon season so far. According to the Home Ministry’s National Emergency Response Centre (NERC), 171 people lost their lives in Uttar Pradesh, 170 people have died in West Bengal, 178 have died in Kerala and 139 have died in Maharashtra.
Meanwhile, according to news agency Reuters more than half of the 14 districts in Kerala have been put on high alert, officials said on Saturday, as the death toll from one of the worst floods in the southern state reached 37.
Torrential rains and landslides have ravaged farmlands and prompted massive evacuation efforts in Kerala. Crops on 1,031 hectares (2547.66 acres) have been damaged and 31,000 people have been forced to take shelter in rescue camps, according to the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority’s (KSDMA) control room in the state capital.A senior official there said eight districts had been put on varying levels of high alert.
Another government official previously told Reuters that crop worth 3.42 billion rupees ($49.65 million), across 26,824 hectares had been destroyed by rains since their onset on May 29. PH Kurian, KSDMA’s chief and a top state bureaucrat, said rains had eased. Mr Kurian said. “However, we will continue our alert and preparedness till August 15.
Union home minister Rajnath Singh was expected to travel to the state on Sunday to take a stock of the relief and rescue operations, Mr Kurian added.Kerala authorities have taken the unprecedented step of opening the gates of 25 water reservoirs to prevent potentially disastrous breaches.The state, which has 44 rivers, witnessed its worst floods in 1924 following torrential rains.(With Agency Inputs ).
