NEW DELHI, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- The death toll in India's southernmost state Kerala due to floods following incessant rains over the past few days reached 37 on Saturday, reported English daily "The Indian Express."
Relief and rescue work is being carried out on a war footing in the state, even as 11 of the total 14 districts have been adversely affected by floods, landslides and incessant rains. An alert has been sounded in eight of these districts.
More than 31,000 people have been shifted to around 80 relief camps set up across the affected areas.
Standing crops on 1,031 hectares (2,547 acres) of land, worth 49.65 million U.S. dollars, have been damaged, a state government official was quoted as saying.
State chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday undertook an aerial survey of flood-ravaged districts of the state, and the country's Home Minister Rajnath Singh expected to visit the state on Sunday to supervise the relief and rescue operations.
This year's monsoon has been the worst in Kerala in the past more than two decades, with heavy rains battering the southern state for the last three days. For the first time in the last 26 years, all five shutters of the Cheruthoni dam, a part of Idukki hydel reservoir system, have been opened to release excess water.
Idukki dam is one of the largest arch dams in Asia. Besides, more than 24 dams across the state have also been opened to drain out excess water.
The state government has pressed in contingents of Indian army, air force, navy and disaster response force teams, apart from local police and fire service officials, to carry out rescue and relief works.
"The heavy flooding and landslides have rendered over 53,500 people homeless in the state, who have now taken shelter in relief camps," a state government spokesman said.
