Kerala Floods: Red Alert issued as Death toll rises to 70

Thiruvananthapuram: The incessant downpour in Kerala and the resultant floods have claimed 28 more lives in the state on Wednesday and caused destruction, forcing the authorities to issue a red alert.

The recent deaths on Wednesday, that includes five members of a family took the death toll close to 70 since August 8. The five family members died in Mallapuram when their house collapsed.

Red Alert in the wake of the flood had been issued in 11 out of 14 districts of Kerala including Idukki, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Malappuram, Pathanamthitta, Kannur, and Ernakulam previously, but on Wednesday the alert was extended across the state.

The Kerala State Government has declared a holiday on Thursday for all educational institutions. Water has entered the Cochin Airport following which it has been shut down till Saturday.

More than 33 dams have been opened, unable to contain the rising waters. Weather forecasts predict more rains till Saturday.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has appealed to the people for generous contributions towards them who have been affected in the worst flood the state has been hit by in a century.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi while talking to the Kerala CM has assured of all necessary help, while Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has announced that more forces will be sent to the state for rescue operations.

Besides the floods, landslides also have created a havoc in the state. In Thiruvananthapuram, a man died when the wall of his house collapsed. Another landslide in Idduki, in the Western Ghats of Kerala, killed five people.

Rescue operations are on a war footing in the state as Indian Airforce lifted people from affected areas of Pathanamthitta to the state capital.

Kerala 's Capital Thiruvananthapuram also witnessed heavy rains that submerged some areas in and around the Capital city. 14 relief camps have been opened.

Kerala is witnessing the heaviest rainfall since 1924 that has resulted in a turmoil in the state of South India forcing more than 75,000 people to seek shelter in relief camps and damaging properties and crops worth thousands of crores.