Kerala floods: Crisis worsens; damage pegged at around Rs 8,000 crore

There seems to be no end to the agony of people of Kerala currently battling a deluge. It has left such a trail of destruction that crops and properties worth over Rs 8,000 crore have been damaged.

The 52 teams of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard and NDRF along with the NGOs have joined hands in relief and rescue operations. However, the scale of the disaster was greater than the current efforts to cope with it.

A fresh alert has been sounded in 13 out of total 14 districts in the state. Of all the districts Pathanamthitta continued to remain the worst-affected over the last 24 hours. Here, thousands of people are stranded inside their homes in Ranni, Aranmula and Kozhencherry towns. In several parts of Pathanamthitta, Ernakulam and Thrissur districts' water levels have gone up to 20 feet, turning streets into deep lakes. Following this, the rescuers had to deploy inflatable boats to evacuate people in these areas.

CM Pinarayi Vijayan informed about the situation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other central leaders, seeking more help. In a National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) meeting, the Centre decided to send 35 more NDRF teams, comprising nearly 1,000 personnel.

The first were expected to reach Kerala by Thursday evening, while the remaining 23 will be sent gradually, according to Sanjay Kumar, NDRF Director General. He also claimed that these teams are equipped to assist the state government authorities in launching quick relief, rescue, medical aid and food distribution tasks during day and night.