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LIVE UPDATES - KERALA FLOODS

IDUKKI/THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Twenty-three people were killed in flash floods and landslides caused by incessant torrential rain across Kerala in the last 24 hours. Four people are missing. The army and air force joined rescue operations in Idukki and Wayanad.The shutters of 24 dams were opened. With the water level at Idukki reservoir, Asia’s highest arch dam, rapidly rising to the danger mark, the government on Thursday opened one of the five shutters of the connected Cheruthoni dam.With just one shutter partially open, 50,000 litres of water were discharged in one second, indicating the kind of impact the opening of all five shutters would have on heavily populated townsdownstream.Idukki, parts of northern Kerala and Palakkad district bore the brunt of the floods, and landslides were reported from eight places in Wayanad, Malappuram and Idukki. Kuttanad was inundated after the shutters of the Kakki dam were opened.Eleven deaths were reported from Idukki district, six from Malappuram, three from Ernakulam , from Kozhikode and one from Wayanad districts.