Kochi: A deluge in India’s flood-stricken southwestern state of Kerala finally let up Sunday, giving some respite for thousands of marooned families, while authorities feared an outbreak of disease among two million people crammed into relief camps.
Incessant rains since August 8 have caused the state’s worst floods in a century, and at least 370 people have perished, many of them killed by landslides.
The India Meteorological Department forecast heavy rainfall only at one or two places of Kerala Sunday, and in some places the flood waters began to recede.
India’s military has led rescue efforts to reach people in communities cut off for days by the floods, with many trapped on roof tops and the upper floors of their homes, and in desperate need of food and potable water. Rescue teams were focused on the town of Chengannur on the banks of the Pamba River, where some 5,000 people are feared to be trapped, officials said.
Anil Vasudevan, who handles disaster management at the Kerala health department, said authorities had isolated three people with chickenpox in one of the relief camps in Aluva town, nearly 250 km (155 miles) from state capital Thiruvananthapuram.
He said the department was preparing to deal with a possible outbreak of water-borne and air-borne diseases in the camps, where an estimated two million people have taken shelter since the monsoon rains began three months ago.
Spl trains from Kerala
Bhubaneswar: The South Eastern Railway Sunday stated two special trains from Ernakulam in flood-hit Kerala to Santragachhi in West Bengal to enable stranded passengers reach home. The trains will run via Trivandrum, Chennai Egmore, Vijayawada, Bhubaneswar and Kharagpur junction with stoppages at Duvvada, Vijayanagaram,
Srikakulam, Palasa, Berhampur, Khurda Road, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Balasore and Bhadrak. The two trains, Ernakulam – Santragachhi Special Fare Special Trains left Ernakulam at 6.00 PM and 9.00 PM Sunday are expected to reach Bhubaneswar at 7.30 AM and 11.33 AM August 21 and leave for Santragachhi at 7.35 AM
and 11.38 AM.