The death toll from floods in India’s states of Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra rose to 95, official figures showed on Saturday, as heavy rain and landslides forced hundreds of thousands to evacuate their homes.

Seasonal monsoon rains from June to September are a crucial lifeline for agrarian Indian society, delivering 70 per cent of the country’s rainfall, but they also bring in their wake death and destruction every year.

Some 42 people died in southwestern Kerala and over 100,000 affected people have been evacuated, the central government’s disaster management cell said, after 80 landslides hit the state in two days.

A red alert, or severe rainfall and bad weather conditions forecast, has been issued for seven out of 14 districts in the state, the Kerala State Disaster Management control room told Reuters on Saturday.

The state’s busiest airport, Cochin International Airport, has been closed since Friday as the taxiway is waterlogged. The airport is expected to reopen on Sunday afternoon as water levels had started to recede, the state body said.

In neighbouring Karnataka, home to India’s tech hub Bengaluru, some 24 people have died in what chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa said on Saturday were the worst floods in 45 years.

Around 1,024 villages have been inundated due to the rains, several dams were reaching their full capacity, and over 200,000 people had been evacuated, he added.

In Maharashtra, home to India’s financial capital Mumbai, 29 people have died this week.

Gulf News

BDST: 2027 HRS, AUG 10, 2019
SI