Flash flood kills 37 in India’s tourist hotspot

More than half of the 14 districts in Kerala have been put on high alert, officials said yesterday, as the death toll from one of the worst floods in the southern state reached 37.

Torrential rains and landslides during India’s June-September monsoon season have ravaged farmlands and prompted massive evacuation efforts in Kerala state.

Crops on 1,031 hectares (2547.66 acres) have been damaged and 36,000 people have been forced to take shelter in rescue camps, according to the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority’s (KSDMA) control room in the state capital.

A senior official there said eight districts had been put on varying levels of high alert. Another government official previously told Reuters that crop worth 3.42 billion rupees ($49.65 million), across 26,824 hectares had been destroyed by rains since their onset on May 29.