Thiruvananthapuram, August 22: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has praised Virat Kohli's comment regarding Kerala floods. The Indian captain, while receiving the Player of the Match award, said that “First and foremost, we as a team want to dedicate the victory to the flood victims back home in Kerala. People are going through a lot, and this is the least we can do.”

"In 3rd test match between England & India when India won, captain V.Kohli said, this win is dedicated to the victims. Even from England they're keeping us in their thoughts. The whole world is sending us love & that strengthens us further to overcome this (sic)" said Kerala CM as reported by news agency ANI.

Chief Minister Vijayan also said that "On July 30 water levels were below orange alert and till Aug 7 water was receding, on August 8 heavy rain started and water levels began to increase. On August 15 Mullaperiyar Dam was opened. Nobody could've foreseen this but still warnings were given & evacuations were done."

While Kerala reels under the deadliest deluge in close to a century, relief for the flood-hit state have started pouring in from states, individuals, celebrities and various communities. Many celebrities have come together and donated their share and have urged their fans to contribute to the relief fund for the victims of the Kerala floods. The national calamity in the southern state has claimed 324 lives since August 8 with gates of 80 dams opened and all rivers in spate.

The torrential rains have rendered thousands of people homeless while lakhs have been evacuated to safer places. 58 teams of NDRF are deployed in 8 affected districts, 170 people have been rescued and 7000 people have been evacuated to safer places so far.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday also pressed the Modi government to accept the $100 million aid offered by the UAE for flood relief as the numbers sheltered in over 3,000 camps in the state rose to 1.2 million.

Vijayan's comments came as Congress leaders too, in a rare show of political unanimity, urged the central government not to reject the Rs 700 crore offered by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), home to hundreds of thousands of Keralites.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 22, 2018 10:33 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).