Rains subside in many parts, landslides reported in Kerala's Palakkad
Situation still grave for Pathanamthitta, Idukki and Ernakulam as heavy rains predicted till August 20.
Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala is witnessing the worst flood in over 100 years with incessant rains over the last 10 days claiming over 300 lives and leaving over three lakh homeless. However, as a welcome relief for the people of the flood-ravaged state, the weather department has withdrawn red alert for all districts for today and orange alert has been issued for 10 districts and yellow alert for two.
Still, the situation continues to remain grave for three districts -- Pathanamthitta, Idukki and Ernakulam -- for Sunday as heavy rains have been predicted for these districts till August 20.
As rescue and relief operations continue in full swing, the Kerala government faces a difficult task in the coming weeks as several areas are reeling under food and power shortage and thousands of people are still awaiting evacuation.
On Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi conducted an aerial survey of some of the flood-affected areas of the state and announced an immediate aid of Rs 500 crore. However, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had demanded Rs 2,000 crore as emergency assistance and said as per the initial assessment, the total loss was pegged at Rs 19,512 crore.
Here are the LIVE updates of Kerala rains:
07:30 pm: CPI(M) cadres, along with Nemmara MLA K Babu, are carrying out rescue and relief operations in Palakkad.
07:15 pm: Odisha CM announced additional financial assistance of Rs 5 crore for Kerala from Chief Minister's Relief Fund. This is in addition to the Rs 5 crore sanctioned earlier. He has also ordered 500 MT of polythene sheets worth Rs 8 crore to be sent to Kerala.
06:00 pm: Relief material being loaded on INS Mysore at Mumbai.
05:20 pm: Massive landslides occurred today at Nelliyampathy hill roads in Palakkad. Road clearing operations are currently underway.
05:00 pm: The NDRF conducted onsite medical assistance for the flood-affected people at Urakam in Thrissur on Saturday.
Onsite medical assistance for the flood affected people by #NDRF team at Urakam in Thrissur, Kerala pic.twitter.com/VfUxt6sK75
— NDRF (@NDRFHQ) August 18, 2018
04:10 pm: The Rapid Action Force (RAF) in Palakkad's Erumachery build a temporary bridge to block the flooding water. Deputy Commandant, RAF Coimbatore, said,"After dam gates were opened, overflowing water damaged roads and entered the paddy fields. The bridge will help to stop the overflow."
03:40 pm: Addressing reporters, Air Marshal B Suresh, Southern Air Command said, "Today, total 288 boats are available at air force station. Many river-rafting volunteers have been brought from Rishikesh. As many as 26 helicopters are in operation."
03:35 pm: ​50 water purifier machines worth Rs 2.5 crore will be airlifted from Begumpet (Telangana) to Kerala shortly, to provide clean drinking water.
03:30 pm: Telangana Home Minister Naini Narshimha Reddy handed over a cheque of Rs 25 crore to Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan earlier today.
03:00 pm: Glimpses of NDRF operations in Kerala today.
Glimpses of #NDRF operations in Kerala today pic.twitter.com/hPWw0H56FP
— NDRF (@NDRFHQ) August 19, 2018
02:40 pm: INS Deepak has reached Kochi. The fleet replenishment tanker which was sent from Mumbai is disembarking rations, fresh water and mineral water at Cochin Port Trust Civil terminal.
02:15 pm: A community kitchen setup at Kochi naval base. The kitchen is currently serving nearly 7,000 people affected due to floods.
02:00 pm: The Indian Air Force reached out to people stranded on roof-tops and air dropped relief materials in flood-hit areas on Sunday.
01:49 pm: "58 of our NDRF teams are deployed across 8 districts of the state. They're carrying out rescue an evacuation work and extending medical emergency aids. Now that rain has subsided to some extent, our teams are being relocated partly to worst-affected areas," said the Director General of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).
58 of our NDRF teams are deployed across 8 districts of the state. They're carrying out rescue & evacuation work & extending medical emergency aids. Now that rain has subsided to some extent, our teams are being relocated partly to worst-affected areas: NDRF DG. #KeralaFloods pic.twitter.com/93Cl9aAJ6y
— ANI (@ANI) August 19, 2018
01:46 pm: Union Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu said that a control room has been set up by DGCA which is working around the clock to aid stranded/affected passengers due to flight cancellations in Cochin. He also said a joint team comprising representatives from DGCA, BCAS, CISF, AAI and Indian Navy carried out an inspection of Cochin Naval Base to check the feasibility of scheduled operations from there.
A Control Room has been set up by DGCA which is working around the clock 24x7 to aid stranded/affected passengers due to flight cancellations in Cochin. More than 2771 queries have been addressed by the control room till date. (3/n)
— Suresh Prabhu (@sureshpprabhu) August 19, 2018
A Joint team comprising representatives from DGCA, BCAS, CISF, AAI and Indian Navy carried out inspection of #Cochin Naval Base today to check the feasibility of scheduled operations from there. Steps being taken to start operations with ATR-72 from Monday, 20th August. (5/n)
— Suresh Prabhu (@sureshpprabhu) August 19, 2018
01:45 pm: Scheduled domestic airlines have mounted additional flights to/from Trivandrum, Calicut and Coimbatore airports to minimize passenger inconvenience. Nine foreign carriers have also rescheduled their flights to/from Trivandrum, Suresh Prabhu tweeted.
Airlines are also displaying status of rescheduled and additional flights on their respective websites along with waiver of cancellation/change ticket charges. (2/n)
— Suresh Prabhu (@sureshpprabhu) August 19, 2018
01:32 pm: National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) rescued a pregnant woman from Alappad village in Cherpu police station area.
01:24 pm: Road clearance work underway in Nelliyampathy hill station after multiple landslides damaged the roads.
01:15 am: Indian Air Force is working on war-footing to rescue people stranded in different parts of Kerala.
#KeralaFloodRelief :Wg Cdr Prasanth of Garud Spl Force of IAF saved a toddler from rooftop in flood hit town of Alappuzha, Kerala. Smile on the face of mother, Priceless. IAF committed in Defence of Skies & Saving Precious Lives on Ground#SavingLives@CMOKerala@DefenceMinIndia pic.twitter.com/ls3paAXlyH
— Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) August 19, 2018
12:40 pm: President Ram Nath Kovind spoke to Kerala Governor and chief minister and inquired about the flood situation.
#PresidentKovind expressed satisfaction that the Union and state governments were working together and in synergy in rescue and relief operations in Kerala. He praised relief agencies such as NDRF and public officials at state and Central level for their response and commitment
— President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) August 19, 2018
12:09 pm: A government school in Chengannur has been converted to a relief camp. 115 people have taken shelter at the camp.
11:51 am: Veterinary Hospital converted to a relief shelter in Idukki district's Vandiperiyar. A total of 35 people are staying at the shelter.
11:10 am: Indian Air Force has deployed multiple fixed wing aircraft to facilitate swift movement of security personnel and rescue material.
Update #KeralaFloodRelief efforts:@IAF_MCC has deployed multiple fixed wing aircraft to facilitate rapid movement of personnel and rescue material to severely affected areas of Kerala.
— Raksha Mantri (@DefenceMinIndia) August 19, 2018
Below is a summary of tasks completed by and tasks to be completed today.@nsitharaman pic.twitter.com/yW3vLgd0O4
10:50 am: Infants and old people have been rescued by the Indian Army under Operation Madad. Rescue operations were carried out in 8 to 10 feet deep water.
10:42 am: People from Mumbai gathered essential commodities to be sent to flood victims.
People from Mumbai gather essential commodities to be sent to flood-hit Kerala. #KeralaFloods. pic.twitter.com/HnxYff0r6r
— ANI (@ANI) August 19, 2018
10:40 am: At 10 am today, the water level in the Idukki reservoir was 2402.28 feet; water flow into Periyar river is 913 cusecs per hour. Two shutters have been closed.
10:32 am: Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has restored all its services to Kerala's Ernakulam, Kottayam, Thrissur, Palghat, Kozhikode, Kannur and Trivandrum. The first service will start at 4 pm to Trivandrum from Bengaluru. However, services to Kasaragod have not restored.
10:27 am: RAF team recovered one body from Nemmara landslide area in Palakkad district early morning. Deputy Commandant RAF Coimbatore unit said, "We have recovered total 10 bodies from the area. Landslides are still occurring in the area, it was a tough task to recover the bodies".
10:24 am: Red alert withdrawn for all districts of Kerala. Orange alert issued for 10 districts, yellow alert for 2 districts. Rescue operations underway across the state, news agency ANI reported.
09:54 am: The IAS Officers Association of Andhra Pradesh to contribute one day salary of its members for Kerala floods fund.
08:44 am: “We started a helpline on August 16. We have 3 rescue numbers,” says Anbodu Kochi member Girish S Pradeep.
Another member Saratha says, “We are closely associated with District Collector's team. We take requirements of callers & cater the same to respected departments.”
‘Anbodu Kochi’, a team of volunteers, has established collection centres to collect relief materials for Kerala flood victims. The team has also started a call centre to help victims; around 40 people are on mobile and laptops to receive calls and communicate callers' needs to the department concerned.
08:37 am: Rescue work underway at Thiruvilla, one of the worst affected places. The task force worked non-stop for 15 hours in heavy rains to evacuate 250 persons, out of whom several were sick and homeless.
07:56 am: Relief materials being loaded on board Naval Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH), Chetak helicopter and Naval Sea King helicopter at Naval Air Station INS Garuda in Kochi.
2 ALHs + 3 Seakings + 4 Chetaks airborne with Relief material this morning pic.twitter.com/I4iNIsgirc
— SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) August 19, 2018
07:08 am: Kochi Naval Base to be thrown open for commercial flight operations from the morning of August 20.
06:59 am: Medical officer and relief materials including medicines, sanitary napkins and baby diapers being rushed to the disaster relief camps of flood-hit districts.