NDRF personnel search for survivors in the debris left by a slandslide at Puthumala at Meppadi in the Wayanad ... Read More

NEW DELHI: Even as rain gods restrained their fury in several states across the country and flood waters receded on Sunday, reports of deaths kept trickling in, taking the total toll to 174 in a span of five days. As many as 33 deaths were reported on Sunday with Kerala accounting for 15, Gujarat 11 and Karnataka seven. Fortunately, Maharashtra reported no death in last 24 hours and its toll since August 7 stood at 30.

All the 11 deaths in Gujarat were reported from the Saurashtra region, taking the state death count to 33 in just two days. Bodies of all the 11 – six labourers who were swept away in the strong currents of Falku river on Saturday evening and five fishermen who had drowned after their boats capsized in the rough Arabian Sea off Porbandar coast on Sunday – have been recovered. Twenty other fishermen, who had ventured into the sea along with those now dead, are missing.

In Kerala, death toll mounted to 72 with the recovery of 15 more bodies on Sunday. With rain losing intensity, search and rescue operations gathered pace but rescuers expressed fear about the 63 people, who were still missing in Wayanad and Malappuram districts, where two massive landslides had flattened hillslopes.

As many as 2.47 lakh people have been shifted to 1,639 relief camps across the state.

Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi visited the relief camps at Kavalappara and interacted with people. He would be visiting the camps in Kozhikode and Wayanad on Monday.

As many as 35 villages in Maharashtra’s Sangli and Kolhapur still remained cut off on Sunday. The opening up of NH4 at the Panchaganga bridge in Kolhapur for vehicles carrying essential supplies was put off to Monday.

Union home minister Amit Shah, accompanied by CM BS Yediyurappa, conducted an aerial survey of flood-affected areas in Belagavi, the Almatti dam in Vijayapura and Koyna dam in Maharashtra. Yediyurappa said a loss of around Rs10,000 crore has been estimated and he has urged the Centre to release Rs 3,000 crore to carry out immediate relief work.

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