At least 19 people were killed after multiple landslides in the hills of India’s southern state of Kerala on Tuesday, local media reported, with rescue efforts hampered after the collapse of a major bridge in the area.
“The situation is serious. The government has pressed all agencies into rescue,” state Forest Minister A K Saseendran told Reuters after the landslides in the Wayanad district of the state.
The army was roped in to build a temporary bridge after a bridge in the district that linked the affected area to the nearest town of Chooralmala was destroyed, Saseendran added.
Hundreds of people are likely to be trapped and as many 19 people have died, including a child, the Indian Express newspaper reported.
The country’s armed forces also said “hundreds of people are suspected to have been trapped”, adding that around 225 soldiers had been deployed to the Wayanad area to assist with search and rescue efforts.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he had assured the Kerala government of “all possible help” with the situation.
“My thoughts are with all those who have lost their loved ones and prayers with those injured,” he said in a post on social media platform X.
Television visuals showed muddy water gushing through rocks and fallen trees, with many houses destroyed.
A person involved in the relief efforts told Reuters there were at least three landslides in the area.
The India Meteorological Department has forecast extremely heavy rain in the state on Tuesday.
Relief efforts are ongoing, and two helicopters of the Indian Air Force have been mobilised, the Kerala chief minister’s office said in a statement.
Rescue efforts were hampered as there was no internet connectivity in the area, Mohsen Shahedi, a senior National Disaster Response Force officer said.
India regularly has severe floods during the monsoon season, which runs between June and September and brings most of South Asia’s annual rainfall. The rains are crucial for rain-fed crops planted during the season but often cause extensive damage.
Scientists say monsoons are becoming more erratic because of climate change and global warming.
Reuters, Agence France-Presse and Associated Press
