Landslides in India triggered by pounding monsoon rains have killed no fewer than 45 people with 250 others rescued from a landscape transformed by mud and debris.

The southern coastal state of Kerala has been battered by torrential downpours, with blocked roads into the disaster area at Wayanad district complicating relief efforts.

District official D.R. Meghasree told reporters on Tuesday, July 30, 2024, that 45 people were dead and another 116 were in hospital for treatment.

India Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a post on X: “Distressed by the landslides in parts of Wayanad. My thoughts are with all those who have lost their loved ones and prayers with those injured.

“Rescue ops are currently underway to assist all those affected. Spoke to Kerala CM Shri Pinarayi Vijayan and also assured all possible help from the Centre in the wake of the prevailing situation there.”

Images published by the National Disaster Response Force show rescue crews trudging through mud to search for survivors and carry bodies on stretchers out of the area.

Homes were caked with brown sludge as the force of the landslide’s impact scattered cars, corrugated iron and other debris around the disaster site.

India’s army said it had deployed more than 200 soldiers to the area to assist state security forces and fire crews in search and rescue efforts.

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Kerala state excise minister M.B. Rajesh said more than 250 people in total had been rescued so far, according to AFP.

Modi’s office said families of victims would be given a compensation payment of $2,400 (200,000 rupees).

More rainfall and strong winds were forecast in Kerala on Tuesday, the state’s disaster management agency said.

Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, who until recently represented Wayanad in parliament told lawmakers that the scope of the devastation was “heartbreaking”.

He added: “Our country has witnessed an alarming rise in landslides in recent years.

“The need of the hour is a comprehensive action plan to address the growing frequency of natural calamities.”

Intense monsoon storms battered India earlier this month, flooding parts of the financial capital Mumbai, while lightning in the eastern state of Bihar killed at least 10 people.

Nearly 500 people were killed around Kerala in 2018 during the worst flooding to hit the state in almost a century.

India’s worst landslide in recent decades was in 1998 when a rockfall triggered by heavy monsoon rains killed at least 220 people and completely buried the tiny village of Malpa in the Himalayas.

The Star