The death toll in Kerala floods has mounted to 39, even as the Centre has announced an immediate relief of additional Rs 100 crore for the state. On Sunday, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had said that the state had suffered losses to the tune of Rs 8,316 crore.
Expressing concern over the situation, the Kerala Chief Minister had also sought an urgent sanction of Rs 1,220 crore from the National Disaster Relief Fund.
Meanwhile, the situation continued to worsen in the state on Monday morning with the water level at Idukki dam almost touching the maximum mark. At 5 am on Monday, the water level in the dam was recorded at 2397.94 feet, according to news agency ANI. The full reservoir level of the dam is 2403 feet.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had assured the state of all possible help from the Centre to tackle the flood situation. He gave the assurance after conducting an aerial survey of Idukki and Ernakulam districts.
He was accompanied by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Union Tourism Minister KJ Alphons and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) Director General Sanjay Kumar.
Seeking additional amount for relief operations from the Centre, Vijayan had on Sunday tweeted, "The impact of the disaster is likely to be felt for a long time. The Preliminary assessment indicates that nearly 20000 houses have been fully damaged and nearly 10000 km of state PWD roads damaged. The preliminary loss is around 8316 crore."
"The Chief Minister has requested an amount of Rs 400 crore in addition to the Rs 800 crore already sought for carrying out the immediate relief and rehabilitation. CM also requested that a Central team may be sent again to assess the damages that have occurred during the last week," another tweet read.
