22 dead in Kerala due to rains, landslides: MHA

At least 22 people have died in Kerala due to heavy rains and landslides, the Home Ministry said today.

According to Kerala State Emergency Operations Centre, 22 people have lost their lives due to the heavy rains and landslides last night.

Among the total deaths, 11 people died in Idukki district, five in Malappuram district, three in Wayanad, two in Kannur and one in Kozhikode, a home ministry spokesperson said.

Ten teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), comprising 45 personnel each, have been deployed in Kerala to assist the rescue and relief operations.

An Inter-Ministerial Central Team of the Union government is also visiting flood-affected areas in Kerala, while Army troops are being mobilised from Bengaluru for deployment in the rain-battered southern state.

With water levels rising in various dams and reaching almost their maximum capacity, shutters of at least 22 reservoirs in Kerala have been opened to drain out excess water.

Heavy rains for past two days and release of water from the Idamalayar dam yesterday, resulted into localised flooding in low lying areas in the northern districts of Kerala.

The flood water also triggered landslide in some places.

The NDRF teams have been deployed in various flood affected districts -- Ernakulum (1), Alappuzha (1), Wayanad (1), Kozhikode (2) and Palakkad (1) to carry out humanitarian assistance and disaster relief work, the spokesperson said.

To augment the deployment, four additional teams are being airlifted from Rajali Airbase (Arakkonam) in Tamil Nadu to Kozhikode in Kerala. All teams are fully equipped with lifesaving equipment and also armed with modern communication gadgets like satellite phones.

Additional teams are kept on standby at NDRF base Arakkonam and will be mobilised as per demand.

An NDRF control room in Delhi is closely monitoring the situation round-the-clock and is in touch with other agencies for further deployment.