Worst flood in recent times, says Kerala CM

Kerala faced the worst flood in recent times, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said today as he took stock of the flood situation in parts of the state following the monsoon fury that has claimed 49 lives this month alone.

Holding a video conference with district collectors and officials of Kollam, Kottayam and Alappuzha, he directed them to ensure availability of drinking water in Kuttanad, one of the badly-hit regions where the Navy today joined the relief operations.

According to an official release here, Vijayan said the government was able to provide relief to affected people in a better way, taking steps to reach necessary relief materials to people staying in camps and in their marooned houses.

He also sought the co-operation and support of the society in tackling the flood situation, saying the whole state should come forward in taking up sanitation work once the water recedes to prevent outbreak of diseases.

Steps would be taken to ensure supply of cooking gas cylinders in the flood affected areas, Vijayan said adding the Chief Secretary had been instructed to take necessary action in this regard.

The torrential rains had claimed 49 lives since July 9, in the second phase of the south west monsoon, and nearly 1.10 lakh people were still staying in 486 make-shift relief camps mostly in worst affected Alappuzha, Kottayam and Pathanamthitta districts.

Officials at the State Control room monitoring the rain situation said crops in about 1,202 hectares had been destroyed.

Flood water was yet to recede in low-lying Kuttanad in Alappuzha district, considered the rice bowl of the state, though the situation has eased in other parts of the district and Kottayam.

In Alappuzha alone, a total of 84,618 people were in 271 relief camps. In Kottayam 17,034 people were in 110 camps.

A Navy release said disaster relief teams comprising 30 personnel from the Southern Naval Command reached out to areas cut-off by flood waters in Kuttanad and in some parts of Kottayam district.

The Navy team also cleared the clogged waterways and created outlet for the floodwater, the release added.

Even though the rains have subsided, the worst flood that affected the Kuttanad region has made life miserable for thousands of stranded people.