Rajnath assures Kerala CM all help to deal with floods; to visit Sunday

New Delhi: The Centre today assured the Kerala government of all possible help in rescue and relief operations in the wake of rains and floods, which so far have claimed 26 lives in the state.

The assurance was given to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who will also undertake an aerial survey of the state's flood affected areas on Sunday.

"Spoke to Kerala CM Shri Pinarayi Vijayan and discussed the prevailing flood situation in the state. I have assured all possible assistance from the Centre to the state government. The relief and rescue ops are going on. MHA is closely monitoring the flood situation," Singh tweeted.

The home minister will undertake a survey of the flood affected areas in Kerala on Sunday, a Home Ministry spokesperson said.

Fourteen National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams are being deployed in the rain-battered state for rescue operations, a spokesman of the force said. Each team has about 45 personnel.

The South-West monsoon has been vigorous over Kerala, resulting in heavy rains in various parts of the state for the last two days.

So far, 26 people have been killed, including 11 due to landslides in high-range Idukki yesterday.

Due to heavy rains in various parts of Kerala, two more shutters of the Cheruthoni Dam, part of the Idukki reservoir, were opened today as the water level touched 2,401 feet.

For the first time in the last 26 years, a shutter of the Cheruthoni dam was opened yesterday and two more were opened at 7 am.

The full reservoir level is 2,403 feet and storage capacity is 69,268 Mcft and storage percentage is 97.61 per cent.

With water levels rising in various dams and reaching almost maximum capacity, shutters of at least 22 reservoirs in the state have been opened to drain out excess water.