At least 23 people were killed in the southern Indian state of Kerala on Tuesday, officials said, after landslides triggered by heavy rains struck an area with rugged, hilly terrain. The death toll was expected to rise.
Rescue workers were struggling to reach the area, in the rural district of Wayanad, because bridges had collapsed and roads had been swept away. State officials said more than 400 families were stranded in remote villages, because the only road connecting them to the rest of Kerala had been cut off.
The state government said it had deployed helicopters to rescue people. “The weather is very bad, but we are trying to do everything we can,” said Veena George, Kerala’s health minister.
Officials said more than 70 people had been injured. Television footage showed water gushing through extensively damaged residential areas.
The India Meteorological Department said on Tuesday that heavy rains were expected to continue in Kerala for at least the next 24 hours, issuing red alerts for several districts. Schools were ordered closed in parts of the state on Monday because of the intense rain, which has been going on for days.
This is a developing story.
