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India flood crisis mounts as 324 confirmed dead

The death toll from floods that have triggered landslides and sent torrents sweeping through villages in the Indian state of Kerala trebled Friday to 324, authorities said, amid warnings of worse weather to come.

Hundreds of troops and local fishermen are staging desperate rescue attempts with helicopters and boats across the southern state, which draws international tourists to its tropical hills and beaches.

Kerala has been battered by record monsoon rainfall this year and is “facing the worst floods in 100 years”, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in a Twitter statement, adding that 324 lives had been lost so far.

With thousands still trapped, power and communication lines down and fresh alerts of further torrential rain, authorities warned of more trouble ahead and further deaths to come.

“We are deploying more boats and the army to ramp up rescue operations,” senior state government official P….
Source: Seychelles News Agency