Kerala Rains Live Updates: Death toll rises to 357, IMD issues orange alert

The flood-stricken Kerala continues to face atrocities as the conditions worsen by the minute. Yet, in a surprisingly better and hopeful condition, a red alert has been withdrawn from all the districts of Kerala. Although about eleven districts are on orange alert.

#KeralaFloods: Red alert withdrawn for all districts of Kerala today. Orange alert issued for 10 districts, yellow alert for 2 districts. Rescue operations underway across the state

— ANI (@ANI) August 19, 2018

On August 17, Prime Minister Modi took an aerial survey of the flood-hit areas after reports said that it had been called off due to the bad weather conditions in Kerala.

The Central government and state governments pledged to contribute to the Kerala flood relief.  According to NDTV, the death toll rose to 357 and lakhs have been relocated to relief camps. The Indian Metereological Department office has however said that the state is not expected to receive heavy rainfall from August 20.

#WATCH: Wing Commander Prasanth of Garud Special Force of Indian Air Force rescues a toddler from rooftop in flood hit town of Alappuzha. #KeralaFlood (Source IAF) pic.twitter.com/wT12zszMya

— ANI (@ANI) August 19, 2018

58 of our NDRF teams are deployed across 8 districts of the state. They’re carrying out rescue & evacuation work & extending medical emergency aids. Now that rain has subsided to some extent, our teams are being relocated partly to worst-affected areas: NDRF DG. #KeralaFloods pic.twitter.com/93Cl9aAJ6y

— ANI (@ANI) August 19, 2018

Efforts are being made to rescue the calamity-stricken population wherein helicopters have been dropping emergency food and water supplies across Kerala, while special trains carrying drinking water and rice. A Navy airstrip will be used for passenger flights from August 20.

Delhi-based lawyers previously started a collection drive in the vicinity of the Supreme Court to collect and dispatch necessary supplies to Kerala. The supplies include clothes, sanitary napkins, mugs, buckets, biscuits and water bottles.

Supreme Court judges, Justice Kurain Joseph and Justice KM Joseph, had come in support of the lawyers collecting supplies at the flood relief collection point while contributing a significant amount for flood relief activities for Kerala.

#OpMadad #KeralaFloods2018 #KeralaFloodRelief Naval Air Station INS Garuda at Kochi cleared for operating civil flights commencing tomorrow morning @DefenceMinIndia @SpokespersonMoD @nsitharaman @CMOKerala pic.twitter.com/nhpHH5uKzw

— SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) August 19, 2018

Scheduled domestic airlines have mounted additional flights to/from Trivandrum, Calicut & Coimbatore airports to minimize passenger inconvenience. Nine foreign carriers have also rescheduled their flights to/from Trivandrum, tweets Suresh Prabhu,Union civil aviation minister(1/2) pic.twitter.com/pdLIFPGs9p

— ANI (@ANI) August 19, 2018

Suresh Prabhu took to Twitter to constantly update the masses.

.@MoCA_GoI Update on Kerela relief operations:
Scheduled domestic airlines have mounted additional flights to/from Trivandrum, Calicut & Coimbatore airports to minimize passenger inconvenience. Nine foreign carriers have also rescheduled their flights to/from Trivandrum. (1/n)

— Suresh Prabhu (@sureshpprabhu) August 19, 2018

Airlines are also displaying status of rescheduled and additional flights on their respective websites along with waiver of cancellation/change ticket charges. (2/n)

— Suresh Prabhu (@sureshpprabhu) August 19, 2018

A Control Room has been set up by DGCA which is working around the clock 24×7 to aid stranded/affected passengers due to flight cancellations in Cochin. More than 2771 queries have been addressed by the control room till date. (3/n)

— Suresh Prabhu (@sureshpprabhu) August 19, 2018

Based upon request received from Kerala Govt. to facilitate them in air dropping of relief material, DGCA is in contact with three private helicopter operators to carry out such relief operations. These operators are currently coordinating with the State Govt. officials.(4/n)

— Suresh Prabhu (@sureshpprabhu) August 19, 2018

A Joint team comprising representatives from DGCA, BCAS, CISF, AAI and Indian Navy carried out inspection of #Cochin Naval Base today to check the feasibility of scheduled operations from there. Steps being taken to start operations with ATR-72 from Monday, 20th August. (5/n)

— Suresh Prabhu (@sureshpprabhu) August 19, 2018

Upon the request received from the Ministry of Home Affairs/Defence regarding assistance for relief operations with IAF aircraft, watch hours at Vijayawada and Begumpet airports have been extended by AAI. (6/n)

— Suresh Prabhu (@sureshpprabhu) August 19, 2018

Scheduled domestic airlines have also been advised to ensure that airfares for flights to/from Trivandrum and Calicut airports in Kerala and nearby airports i.e. Mangalore and Coimbatore are kept at optimal level proportionate to sector distance. (7/n)

— Suresh Prabhu (@sureshpprabhu) August 19, 2018

Upon the request received from the Ministry of Home Affairs/Defence regarding assistance for relief operations with IAF aircraft, watch hours at Vijayawada and Begumpet airports have been extended by AAI. (6/n)

— Suresh Prabhu (@sureshpprabhu) August 19, 2018

Accordingly, airlines have been advised to cap the maximum fare around Rs. 10,000 for longer routes and around Rs. 8,000 for shorter routes to/from Kerala and nearby airports. (8/n)

— Suresh Prabhu (@sureshpprabhu) August 19, 2018

Also Read: Kerala Floods Updates: ‘You’ll never walk alone’, Liverpool FC comes out in support for victims