Kerala catastrophe: At least 22 killed, mom hugging baby found dead in debris

Landslides
triggered by heavy rains in Kerala’s Idukki and Kottayam districts have killed
at least 22 people over the last few days. National Disaster Relief Force
(NDRF) and other rescue workers continue to rummage through the debris. Meanwhile,
more than a 100 relief camps have come up in various districts and a red alert
sounded in areas near seven dams where water levels are rising.

Also Read | Death toll from Kerala rains climbs to 21, search operations underway

News of tragedy is
coming in from all corners in the slate as rains continue to wreak havoc. One
particularly poignant incident reported on Sunday was that a rescue team found
the bodies of a baby and his mother hugging as they died. The baby was in its
cradle. The incident was reported from Kerala’s Idukki district by local media.

Also Read | Kerala floods: Amit Shah assures possible help from Centre, monitors situation

In another
incident, three children were found to have died while hugging each other. All
the three children were below 10 years of age.

The crisis in
Kerala is reaching epic proportions. Horrific visuals of the rain-battered
state have flooded social media. The authenticity of such visuals have not been independently verified by Opoyi. 

The brief, intense spells of rain indicate
mini cloudbursts, according to a scientist at the Cochin University of Science
and Technology (CUSAT) who spoke to news agency PTI.

Idukki and Kottayam
districts reported receiving 5 cm rainfall within two hours. This, according to
the S Abhilash — the scientist at CUSAT — was a “mesoscale mini cloudburst type
event”.

The catastrophe in
Kerala started in Idukki and Kottayam where cloud bursts in the higher terrains
led to flash floods and landslides lower down leading to loss of lives and
massive destruction of property.

The current crisis
is not the only one facing Kerala. The climate in Kerala has received increased
attention over the last few years as the ecologically well-endowed state
suffered from back-to-back drought conditions during 2015 and 2016. The very
next year, Kerala was hit by cyclonic storm “Ockhi”. Catastrophic landslide and
flood episodes continued in 2018, 2019 and 2020.