Kerala Floods: Death Toll Rises to 167, Informs CM Pinarayi Vijayan

Kochi, August 17: The death toll in the Kerala deluge has risen to 167, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan informed on Friday.  The southern state has been ravaged by unprecedented floods following torrential rains that also triggered landslides. The heavy downpour in Kerala for almost a week has disrupted air, rail and road traffic in several places across the southern state.

On August 12, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had undertaken an aerial survey of the flood-hit regions. Singh had announced an immediate central assistance of Rs 100 crore to the state for relief works. Reports inform that thousands have been evacuated, 11 are missing, 41 injured, and over 1,65,538 people are living in the 1155 relief camps. According to a tweet by ANI, nearly 2,857 houses have been damaged and 3393 hectares of crop loss reported from the state.

The state government has sounded a red alert in 14 districts of the state and opened 35 dams. Reports inform that telecom operators have announced free call and data services, extension in bill payment dates and other relief measures for seven days for customers in the flood-hit state of Kerala. People who have been shifted to relief camps are being provided with basic amenities, twenty-four hours of medical care with ambulance and landline calling facilities.

The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) has donated Rs 30 lakh to the relief fund for Kerala flood victims. In a circular issued by the SCBA, it also called up on its members to contribute "generously" towards 'SCBA Calamity Relief Fund' that has been set up for this purpose. It said a corpus of about Rs 30 lakh lying in the account shall be transferred for Kerala flood relief operations.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 17, 2018 12:11 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).