kerala

Updated: Aug 09, 2019 12:01 IST

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday made a rare phone call to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to seek the Centre’s help for people in his constituency Wayanad and Kerala where 25 people have already died in torrential rains.

The weather department has issued a red alert for the state and forecast more rains in Idukki, Malappuram, Kozhikode, and Wayanad districts.

Rahul Gandhi, who represents Wayanad constituency in the Lok Sabha, yesterday spoke to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to seek assistance for his constituents.

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In a tweet, Rahul Gandhi’s Wayanad office tweeted that the Congress leader had spoken to the Prime Minister to seek “all possible assistance” for people severely affected by the floods and landslides in the state, especially Wayanad.

“The PM has assured to provide any assistance required to mitigate the effects of the disaster,” his office tweeted.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told reporters on Friday that nearly 24 landslides had been reported in the state, most of them in Kozhikode and Wayanad.

In one landslide in a tea-estate in Wayanad, rescue workers are still looking for the 40 people who had gone missing. In videos and photographs of the landslides that have emerged, homes and settlements can be seen crumbling down into pieces, leaving flattened mass of mud and slush behind.

The state, which has shut schools and educational institutions in all districts, was still struggling to emerge from the devastation from last year’s floods, described as the worst in its history when the new round of disaster struck. North Kerala’s Malabar belt and central Kerala regions, have borne the brunt of the floods this time.