Flood toll in Kerala increases to 88, heavy rain warning in three districts

NEW DELHI: The death toll in the Kerala floods increased to 88 on Tuesday with an “extremely heavy rain” warning issued for three districts, even as the weather in deluge-hit Karnataka and Gujarat improved, allowing authorities to speed up rescue and relief operations.nnOdisha, which is being battered by heavy showers since last week, on Tuesday saw a flood-like situation in parts of the state.nnThe flood toll stands at 210, with 88 deaths in Kerala, 43 in Maharashtra, 42 in Karnataka and 31 in Gujarat. Two rain-related deaths were also reported from Uttar Pradesh where several parts saw heavy overnight showers.nnIn Kerala, a red alert has been issued for Ernakulam, Idduki and Alappuzha as extremely heavy rains are expected in central areas of the state. The flood-hit northern parts are slowly limping back to normalcy, officials said.nnDue to strengthening of low pressure in the Bay of Bengal, extremely heavy rains are expected to lash several parts of the state, Director of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) in Thiruvananthapuram K Santosh said.nnThe state government update at 9 am on Tuesday put the death toll at 88 since August 8 and said the toll is likely to go up as 40 people are still missing.nnRescue operations in Maharashtra’s flood-hit Kolhapur and Sangli districts are over, officials said, adding that with waters receding, the focus is now more on providing essential supplies to the affected people.nnThe situation has also improved in flood and heavy rain affected districts of Karnataka and inflows in reservoirs are also steadily decreasing, an official update issued by the government said on Tuesday said.nn”Flood situation is normalising. The water has started receding in many flood-affected districts and flood situation has improved,” it said.nnThe Karnataka government has decided to celebrate the country’s independence day in a “simple” way as most parts of the state are affected by floods and incessant rains.nnIn the past seven days, the Indian Navy has rescued over 14,000 people from flood-affected areas of Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka under operation ‘Varsha Rahat’.nnForty-one Navy teams were deployed in difficult terrains of the three states where they used advanced light helicopters and also boats to reach the marooned areas, he said.nnDue to incessant rains in Odisha, tain services were affected in western parts of the state as water was flowing over the tracks in some places in Boudh, Bolangir, Kalahandi, Kandhamal and Sonepur districts.nnWith more rainfall likely to occur over the next three days due to formation of a low pressure area over the Bay of Bengal, district administrations have been asked to be prepared to deal with possible flood.nnThe national capital was lashed by rains on Tuesday, while Himachal Pradesh saw heavy showers in several areas with Sujanpur Tira recording the highest rainfall.nnSource: Press Trust of India