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Officials said at least 25 people were killed in landslides and floods caused by heavy rains in southwestern India. Rescuers searched for survivors in the muddy ruins, and the military flew in emergency supplies.
Residents in parts of the coastal state of Kerala were cut off because of intensified rains, swelling of rivers and flooding of roads from late Friday.
Officials said on Sunday that after landslides and flash floods occurred in these areas, so far, about 11 bodies have been found in the Iduki area and another 14 have been found in the Kottayam area.
The Chief Minister of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan, said that thousands of people have been evacuated and at least 100 relief camps have been established.
The army, navy, and air force are assisting in flood relief and rescue operations. Officials could not tell how many people were missing.
“This is my livelihood. Everything is over,” a distraught person told the Kerala news channel Manorama TV was hit by a landslide in the town of Koottickal in Koottickal.
“The mountain was broken near us. There has been a lot of damage and loss. The house is gone. The children are gone,” a woman from Koottickal added.
Videos shared on social media showed that buses and cars were flooded.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed condolences on Twitter and said that the authorities are working hard to help those affected or attacked by the floods.
The Indian Meteorological Department said the heavy rain caused by the low pressure area in the southeastern Arabian Sea and Kerala is expected to ease on Monday.
The Bureau of Meteorology said that in northern India, some states, including the Himalayas of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, are expected to experience “heavy rainfall” in the next two to three days.
It added that the northern weather system will be caused by areas of low pressure where Afghanistan and its surrounding areas interact with strong winds from the Bay of Bengal.
In 2018, Kerala suffered its worst flooding in nearly a century, killing nearly 500 people.
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