Troops called out in Kerala as flood toll rises

KOCHI, India: Helicopters airlifted stranded families from rooftops and dam gates were thrown open as incessant torrential rain brought fresh havoc Thursday to the Indian state of Kerala where about 100 people are feared dead.

Hundreds of extra troops were deployed in the southern state, a major tourist hotspot, as the government issued a "red alert" over the region´s worst floods in decades.

State authorities said the confirmed death toll was 72 but officials and media reports said up to 30 more people were feared dead Thursday in landslides and as rivers burst their banks, flooding scores of villages. At least eight people were reported dead and 15 others, including a three-month-old infant, were trapped inside three houses hit by a landslide near an irrigation dam in Malappuram district, the Hindu newspaper said. Authorities said many people were trapped inside their houses. More than 60,000 people have sought refuge in relief camps.

"At least 6,500 people are stranded in different parts of Kerala and the situation in three districts is particularly grim," a Kerala state disaster management official told AFP.

Kerala, famed for its pristine palm-lined beaches and tea plantations, is battered by the monsoon every year but this year´s damage has been particularly severe. Floods have also caused havoc in other states, including Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. Some 540 army, navy and air forces reinforcements were sent to Kerala on Thursday to join the rescue effort.

The army said it had rescued scores of people with helicopters sent to the region. Defence forces and government boats were also used in an increasingly desperate rescue operation. Authorities appealed for victims to stand in open fields or on rooftops away from trees so helicopters were not damaged during rescue efforts.