Kerala Floods: Red Alert isuued, Death troll reaches 167

Kerala, Aug 17: In the latest updates, The Red alert has been issued in all 13 districts of Kerala except Kasaragod today. An alert has been issued for tomorrow also in Ernakulam and Idukki districts.

The death toll in Kerala flood has increased to 167, leaving 41 injured, 11 people missing, and almost 1,65,538 people residing in 1155 relief camps, media reported. The floods which wrecked 2857 houses also damaged 3393 hectares of crop.

The Centre has launched massive rescue and relief operations in the state owing to the flood situation which is worsening by the day. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Kerala to review the flood situation in the state today evening.

Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been asked to mobilize additional manpower, boats, and helicopters to scale up the rescue and relief operations. Food packets and drinking water are also being rushed.

More than 150,000 people made homeless across the state have moved into some 1,300 relief camps due to devastating floods in Kerala. According to the government, 10,000 kilometers (6,000 miles) of Kerala roads have been destroyed or damaged due to floods.

The Indian Navy has allowed the government of Kerala to use the Naval airstrip at Kochi for use by civilian airlines as the civilian airport remains closed. The Kerala government has also been advised to explore the use of V-SAT communication links in areas where telephone connectivity has been disrupted