As Kerala looks towards a long road to recovery from the floods that have killed at least 357 people since May 29, rescue officials continued with their efforts to take people to safety.
Though most parts of the state received a respite from rainfall on Monday, the India Meteorological Department said “heavy rainfall” is expected in Kozhikode, Kannur and Idduki districts in the next four days, The Indian Express reported. More heavy rainfall is expected in September, according to the weather department.
Meanwhile, a commercial flight landed at the Naval air station in Kochi four days after the international airport was closed till August 26 due to the floods. The Alliance Air flight took off from Benglauru and landed at INS Garuda around 8 am. A few hours later, an IndiGo Airline flight also landed at the naval base.
Here is a compilation of videos and photos from the state:
News agency ANI tweeted a video of personnel from the Rapid Action Force building a temporary bridge in Erumachery in Palakkad district to block flood water from entering paddy fields. On Sunday, the Central Reserve Police Force evacuated 186 elderly women from a shelter home in the district’s Vadakkancherry town, The Times of India reported.
The bridge over the Mangalam river remains submerged and the road traffic between Palakkad and Vadakkamcherry remains suspended.
The Indian Coast Guard tweeted a video of its personnel rescuing women and children from an isolated house 2 km from Thiruvalla in Pathanamthitta district. They have been shifted to a relief camp nearby. The district authorities have set up 448 relief camps and had rescued 55,340 people till Saturday, The News Minute reported.
NDTV Kerala bureau chief Sneha Koshy on Sunday tweeted photographs of a 90-year-old woman and infants being rescued in Chalakudy in Thrissur district, which is one of the worst affected regions in the state. A Scroll.in ground report from the town highlighted the dismal scenes that greeted residents as flood waters receded and also mentioned tales of bravery and selflessness.
The Indian Express reporter Vishnu Verma tweeted photos from the town of Aluva in Ernakulam district, which also bore the brunt of the floods. “More evidence of flattened walls, slushy houses and shops & broken cars in Aluva,” he tweeted. “The real work of restoring normalcy begins now.”
During a journey through the town and nearby areas one can see “vivid images of roads lined with empty foundations, cars flipped upside down, trees uprooted, iron roofs torn off buildings, snapped power and phone lines, impassable roads, flooded toilets and overflowing sewers,” The Hindu reported. According to officials, about 50,000 people have been housed in more than 200 relief camps in the town and nearby areas.
Not only military personnel and the National Disaster Response Force, Kerala Police personnel are also earning praise online for their selfless contribution to rescue efforts. Dr B Balagopal, the news editor of Malayalam news channel Reporter TV, tweeted a photo of two police officers standing in waist-deep flood water during a relief operation in an unidentified part of the state.
The residents of a building in Kochi painted a thank you note for rescue workers, ANI reported. A Navy helicopter piloted by Commodore Vijay Varma had rescued two women from the building on August 17.
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