Death toll nears 400 in flood-hit Kerala

KOCHI/NEW DELHI: The death toll in India´s southern state of Kerala rose on Monday to nearly 400 after its worst flood in a century, as authorities handed out medicine and disinfectants to ward off disease in thousands of relief camps. Dozens of people are missing and 1.2 million are sheltering in the camps, state officials said, as water receded and a huge clean-up gathered pace.

"The death toll has risen to 373," an official of the state's disaster management authority told Reuters. Kerala received rainfall more than 40 percent greater than normal for the monsoon season, which runs from June to September. Torrential rain in the last 10 days forced officials to release water from dozens of dangerously full dams.

The Indian government classified the floods as a "calamity of severe nature. "Kerala has pitched it as a national disaster, which if accepted by the federal government, is likely to prompt greater commitments of funds for relief and rebuilding efforts. But, without a yardstick for such a declaration, it could be an uphill task, state officials involved with disaster management said.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan called the flood one of the worst in India´s history, displacing more than half a million people. Federal health minister JP Nadda said more than 3,500 medical camps were set up across a region roughly the size of Switzerland, where rains since August 8 have swelled rivers and triggered landslides.