india

Updated: Aug 13, 2019 14:06 IST

The weather office on Tuesday issued fresh red alert for Kerala with rains battering the central districts even as chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan toured the worst-hit areas in the second straight year of floods that has left 90 people dead and many missing.

The alert was issued for Idukki, Ernakulam and Alappuzha districts as CM visited Wayanad and Malappuram (in north Kerala), that have borne the brunt of monsoon rains, and assured people that his government will do everything to alleviate their sufferings.

“We understand your pain and agony. We will be with you. United, we will come out of this tragedy soon,” the CM said as those affected narrated their woes before him.

The relatives of those missing in Wayanad landslides were seen pleading with him to expedite the ongoing rescue works. The copious rains that lashed Kerala have abated a bit helping authorities to speed up debris removal work. At least 40 people are still feared trapped under debris.

As clouds cleared on Tuesday, many people returned home from relief centres but the Met warning of the upcoming low-pressure in Bay of Bengal still looms large. The IMD said a fresh low pressure developing over the Bay of Bengal will bring heavy rainfall over central and southern India for two days, August 14 and 15. Last year, the rains aggravated in the state after August 15 when the flood of the century claimed more than 475 lives.

As against the 2018 floods, this time most of those dead have fallen victim to the landslides – at least 50 of the 90 dead. In Kavalapara, one of the worst-hit spots in Malappuram, slush and debris travelled more than three kms taking with it colonies of human habitation.

Meanwhile ruling CPI(M) has criticised the Centre saying opposition-ruled states were being neglected. “Home Minister Amit Shah had an aerial survey of flood-hit areas of Karnataka and Maharashtra on Sunday but he deliberately skipped most-affected Kerala,” politburo said in a statement in Delhi.