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Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has called for a meeting of all political parties here this evening to update them on the devastating floods and rescue and relief operations.
Even as the government claims that these operations are either close to fruition or are in the last stages, reports from worst-hit Chengannur says that at least 30,000 people are still at large.
REFUSE TO MOVE OUT
According to the police, they are residents who have refused to be moved to safer places even close to a week after the grievous second phase of the tragedy, or are content with food and drinking water supplies.
Similarly, there are at least 10,000 people staying back in the low-lying Kuttanad in Alappuzha district, according to Thomas Isaac, state Finance Minister and local MLA.
Food and drinking water were supplied to the stranded people even yesterday, the police said, adding that the Central Industrial Security Force has taken over the largest relief camps in the area.
Watermarks in Puthenkavu, Arattupuzha and Malekkara around Chengannur indicate that flood waters had risen in the areas to a height of 20 feet, reports said.
The Upper Kuttanad area in Pathanamthitta district is still mostly under water, with houses in the Niranam, Kadapra and Peringara panchayaths remaining partially or fully flooded.
HOUSING, FARM DAMAGES
Meanwhile, latest assessments indicate that 11,001 houses/dwellings have been damaged with 699 having been completely destroyed and 10,302 suffering partial damages.
Electricity has been cut off in over 26 lakh houses while an estimated 2.80 lakh farmers saw standing crops on a collective 45,988 hectares of land being wiped out in the floods.
A preliminary assessment says that the losses in the farm and housing sectors would alone come to Rs 1,100 crore, though this could prove an understatement in the final analysis.
Damages to roads and infrastructure would add up to many times over this amount, though the Chief Minister had earlier put a figure of Rs 4,400 crore.
Last evening, the Ministry of Home Affairs had said that the massive floods in Kerala was being declared a 'calamity of severe nature' for all practical purposes.
The State Police Chief Loknath Behera has said that 40,000 policemen are being deployed to help clean up/tidy up houses in the affected areas and make them habitable.
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