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Armed Forces Join Rescue Efforts as India Flood Death Toll Rises

Armed Forces Join Rescue Efforts as India Flood Death Toll Rises

(Bloomberg) -- India’s Army, Navy and the Air Force joined rescue efforts as flood waters in the country’s western and southern states claimed over 100 lives.

The weather office said the intensity of rainfall over the southern states of Kerala and Karnataka is likely to wane from Sunday. Kerala accounted 57 deaths due to rising water and resultant landslides, according to a tweet from its chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Karnataka also saw 26 people losing their lives, with chief minister B.S.Yediyurappa terming the natural calamity the “biggest” in 45 years, local media reported.

Armed Forces Join Rescue Efforts as India Flood Death Toll Rises

India’s Home Minister Amit Shah will conduct an aerial survey of the flood affected areas on Sunday, ANI reported.

In the western state of Maharashtra, at least 29 people have lost their lives with million of hectares of crops, fruits and vegetables also destroyed by the floods, the Times of India reported.

India’s Coast Guard has mobilized response teams in the flood-hit states and shifted more than 2,200 stranded citizens to relief camps, it said in a twitter post Saturday. The National Disaster Response Force also carried out rescue operations in some flood-affected districts of Maharashtra, while authorities in Kerala evacuated millions of people to safer places, local media reported.

Armed Forces Join Rescue Efforts as India Flood Death Toll Rises

Kerala’s Kochi airport is set to resume operations on Sunday afternoon, after being shut from Friday due to flooding, Press Trust of India reported. The latest deluge comes after the worst floods in a century killed more than 300 people last year in Kerala, caused $2.8 billion in damage and left about 314,000 homeless. The state is the country’s top rubber producer and rain normally disrupts tapping.

To contact the reporter on this story: Anirban Nag in Mumbai at anag8@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Linus Chua at lchua@bloomberg.net, Unni Krishnan, Shikhar Balwani

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