Rescue operations are ongoing in India’s southern Kerala state on Wednesday after heavy monsoon rains triggered deadly landslides that swept through homes and stranded hundreds of people, officials said.
The death toll has surpassed 150, many of whom drowned, authorities said, adding that the number of casualties was expected to rise after at least two landslides hit the state’s northeastern Wayanad district in the early hours of Tuesday.
Rescue workers are now facing treacherous conditions due to heavy rain, lack of power, destroyed bridges and roads blocked by fallen trees as they try to reach survivors and determine the full scope of the disaster.
Emergency responders at the site of the landslides – which was covered in mud and toppled trees – carried away bodies in tarps and helped residents move to safety as rain poured down.
Videos posted to X by India’s National Disaster Response Force also showed rescue workers paddling through muddied water on inflatable boats to try to reach people.
“Helicopters have also been brought there, but the weather is bad,” said Veena George, the state health minister, on Tuesday. “There are many challenges there because there is no electricity.”
Up to 1,000 people have been rescued so far, the Indian Army’s southern command said in a post on X Wednesday.
Janaki, a local resident, told her family was awoken in the middle of the night to a loud noise coming from the river and water flowing through her yard. They took shelter in a neighbor’s home, she said.
Then another landslide hit.
“While everyone was standing in a room in fear, large stones and logs came in there,” Janaki said, sitting in a bed in a local hospital.
“My two daughters and my husband survived. None of the people in the neighboring houses were seen.”
Janaki’s husband, Vasu, said rescue workers arrived around 6 a.m. and brought the family to the hospital. “God saved us,” he said.