Kerala Floods: 75,000 houses washed away, Rs 700 cr worth crops damaged

People being rescued on a boat and with the help of a rope from a flood-affected region in Ernakulam district's Kochi on Thursday. Pics/PTI

Row upon row of trucks are lined up at the check-posts on the Kerala border, carrying perishable items for the upcoming festive week of Onam and Bakri-eid. Thanks to the havoc wreaked by the rain, these trucks are unable to move an inch into the ravaged state. Officials have said nearly 75,000 houses have collapsed or been washed away in the last few days alone, with hundreds of lives lost.

While thousands of people have been rescued, hundreds are still waiting for help in remote areas. The losses in terms of human life and property are yet to be ascertained but are expected to be staggering.

Grains, veggies impacted
Ashok Kumar, a spokesperson from the Department of Agriculture Development and Farmer's Welfare, Thiruvananthapuram, said, "The state government has already cancelled the pre-festival celebrations in the state." Ashok said Kerala only produces a few vegetables and has to depend on states like Tamil Nadu for supply of other vegetables and Maharashtra for supply of onions and potatoes. Most of the rice, too, comes in from Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. "The trucks stuck with these perishable vegetables will mean huge losses for the state. Kerala does not have a market regulator like APMC in Maharashtra, so there is no storage facility available for vegetables," said Ashok.

1.82 lakh farmers affected
Justin Mohan, director, Department of Agriculture Development and Farmer's Welfare, said, "Preliminary findings show that nearly 1,82,000 farmers are directly affected, and nearly 28,150 hectares of farm land are submerged in flood waters. The estimated loss of crops in revenue is expected to be around Rs 700 crore, but could go up, as the situation has worsened in the last 48 hours."

"Around 15,250 hectares of paddy fields are submerged and 5,150 hectares of bunched and non-bunched banana farms are submerged completely. We had bunched bananas ready for harvest worth Rs 357 crore and non-bunched bananas worth Rs 60 crore," he said.

75,000 houses gone
E Chandrasekharan, Kerala revenue minister told mid-day, "As per our records, nearly 1,50,000 people are directly impacted, in which 75,000 houses are completely damaged. We have to wait until the water level comes down to start calculating losses, which might take over a month. We were not prepared for such a situation as there was no recent precedent. We have provided temporary shelters to the affected people in schools, halls and auditoriums, where food and water is being provided."

KSEB cuts power
Mohammed Syad, chief spokesperson at KSEB, Kerala, refuted social media reports about a complete power cut in Kerala on Friday. He said, "We have only switched off a few substations where the level of water has crossed the danger mark to avoid any untoward incident. We have come up with a dedicated number 09496061061 to report any power related accident cases."

Insurance, compensation
Justin added, "Those farmers who have insured their paddy crops at a premium of Rs 250 per hectare will get Rs 35,000 per hectare and those not insured will be compensated by the government at Rs 13,500 per hectare, from the state natural calamity fund. Insured banana farmers will get Rs 300 per banana plant, and others will get Rs 100 per plant (of this Rs 95.50 is from the Kerala government and Rs 4.50 is from the Centre).

Justin said, "The government will be providing all required support to the farmers by giving them free seeds and also special kits. Around 1 crore farmer kits had been kept ready for free distribution during the Onam festival.

Food to be subsidised
The agriculture department is confident that the water level and rainfall will come down before Onam. "Once the flood waters recede and things return to some semblance of normality, we will be setting up 2,000 stalls across Kerala and vegetable and food grains from other states will be sold at 30 per cent below the market price. Farmers, too, can bring their produce, which will be sold at 10 per cent above the market price," Justin said.

Hospitals impacted
Most of the hospitals and nursing homes in the flood-affected areas were badly affected, with power cuts and diesel generators working overtime. K K Shailaja Teacher, minister for health and social justice, said, "We have so far treated 500 plus patients who were injured or impacted due to the flooding and were rescued at various camps."

She added, "We have instructed the doctors to focus on providing emergency health care to patients, and are ensuring that there is no shortage of medicines at these hospitals and camps.

A state health official said, "We have directed that all bodies recovered are to be handed over to the relatives without a post mortem and the entire expenses for the last rites will be provided by the state government."

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