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FLOOD Affected Kerala Returning To Normalcy

NORMAL life is steadily returning to flood ravaged Kerala with commercial flight operations resuming from the Naval Airport at Kochi on Monday with the first Air India flight from Bengaluru arriving this morning. Small aircraft are being operated from the naval airport after the Kochi International Airport shut operations till August 26 following flooding in the heavy rains. The first AI flight from Bengaluru arrived this morning and returned by 8.30 am IST .People  are also  coming  back  to their  homes .Train services between state capital and Ernakulum are also slowly becoming normalised. Skeletal services were run between Ernakulum and Thiruvananthapuram and Alappuzha-Kottayam routes  packed with flood affected people moving to the houses of their friends and relatives. The deadly monsoon rains have claimed 310 lives since August 8 and has displaced over 7.14 lakh people from their homes.

In the worst affected Chengannur in Alappuzha district, efforts are on to rescue some of those stranded in certain pockets, including Pandanad.India Met Department  has  withdrawn  red alert .Rainfall is likely to decrease further gradually during the next five days. IMD  said .Rehabilitation will be the next big focus of the state government with most of the marooned having been rescued, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said. Rainfall over Kerala during the South West Monsoon (June 1 to Aug 19) has been exceptionally high. Kerala has so far received 2346.6 mm rains against the normal of 1649.5 mm, according to IMD. High-range Idukki recorded the highest excess rainfall (92 per cent above normal) followed by Palakkad (72 per cent above normal).There is extensive damages to standing crops besides  property and communication networks. Thirteen people lost their lives on Sunday while 7, 24,649 lakh people were housed in 5,645 relief camps across the state. Rescue operations are in final stages. Around 22,000 people were rescued on Sunday alone in the operations launched by the defence personnel, national and state disaster response forces, fishermen and local people. The next big challenge for the government is the epidemic, Chief Minister’s Office said. We are gearing up to face any eventuality, it added. Besides deploying personnel from defence forces and NDRF, the Centre has sanctioned   a total of 600 crore as “interim relief”. Several state governments   have announced donations in cash for the affected people. Chief Minister Pinyari Vijayan said in each Panchayat six health officers would be deployed to ensure there was no outbreak of any communicable diseases as the flood water recedes. (pic courtesy : livemint)

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