Landslides in Kerala, India after heavy rain kill 106, many more trapped

KERALA:

Landslides swept through tea estates and villages in southern India’s Kerala on Tuesday, killing at least 106 people as they slept, as unexpectedly heavy rain collapsed hills and sent torrents of mud, water and rocks.

The slopes gave way after midnight after torrential rains on Monday in Kerala’s Wayanad district, a state known as one of India’s most popular tourist destinations. Most of the victims were tea estate workers and their families who lived in small houses or makeshift shelters.

Television images showed rescue workers clambering through uprooted trees and flattened tin structures, as boulders were strewn across hillsides and muddy water gushed up. Rescuers were pulled into a stream, carrying stretchers and other equipment to rescue people.

At least 106 people were killed in the landslides, 128 were injured and dozens were missing, state authorities said. Local Asianet TV put the death toll at 119.

Tuesday’s landslides are the state’s worst disaster since 2018, when flash floods killed nearly 400 people.

“There are still people trapped underground and those who were swept away,” Kerala Chief Minister Pinaragi Vijayan told reporters. “The rescue operation will continue with all possible forces and means.”

More than 3,000 people had been moved from the area and were being accommodated in 45 relief camps in the region, he said, adding that hundreds of personnel, including army soldiers, were using drones and sniffer dogs to search for survivors.

Vijayan, a survivor who gave only one name, said he woke up in the middle of the night to feel the ground shaking and see electricity poles falling.

“Some neighbors and I ran to nearby houses where we heard cries for help and took some of the injured to safety,” he told Asianet.

“My father, mother, sister and her daughter were at home and as I was walking towards them the next landslide hit with a roar,” he said. “I stuck to a window bar as I watched my mother and sister disappear under the mud, there was nothing I could do.”

“unpredictable rain”

Army engineers were deployed to help build a replacement bridge after the destruction of the one connecting the affected area to the nearest town of Chooralmala, the prime minister’s office said in a statement.

“A small team has managed to cross the river bridge and reach (the site), but we will need to send many more to provide help and start rescue operations,” Kerala chief secretary V. Venu told reporters.

A military helicopter managed to land in Mundakkai, one of the worst-hit areas, where about 250 people were stranded on a hilltop and in a tourist resort without enough food and medicine. It could not be reached earlier by air due to bad weather, officials said.

This was expected to speed up rescue efforts and the injured would be removed first, they said.

Although the area is a popular tourist destination, local residents were hit hardest as all tourist tours had been suspended since Monday due to the rain.

Chief Minister Vijayan said many people had moved out of the area before the landslides due to heavy rainfall and this helped reduce the toll.

The region was forecast to get 204 millimeters (8 inches) of rain but ended up with 572 millimeters (22.5 inches) in a 48-hour period, he said, adding that in the wake of “climate change … rainfall and other natural disasters are sometimes unpredictable.”

More rain is forecast across the state for the next five days, he said, and urged people to take precautions.

Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, who won a seat in Wayanad in the recent general election but resigned as he was also elected in his family’s stronghold in the north, said he had spoken to the state chief to ensure coordination with all agencies.

“The devastation unfolding in Wayanad is heartbreaking,” he said in a message to X. “I have urged the union government to extend all possible support.”