INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Kerala floods: Rescue workers help a woman reach a boat on floodwater at ChengannurKochi: At least a thousand people
are still stranded at five villages around Chengannur in flood-hit Kerala, even as the weather office has said heavy rain is likely to
subside in the coastal state
Commercial flight operations to flood-hit Kochi also resumed today after the Navy activated its airstrips to accommodate small passenger
The first flight -- an Alliance Air ATR plane -- landed early this morning at the INS Garuda naval air station
The main Kochi airport will remain closed till August 26 as water is yet to recede from the facility, the country's seventh-busiest
Across Kerala, relief teams are running against time to ensure food and medicines reach people stranded in their homes
Over 160 people have died in the Kerala flood
Here are the top 10 updates on the Kerala flood situation:A joint team of the centre and the civil aviation ministry gave the
go-ahead for the flight operations at the Navy's air station in Kochi
The first flight of the 70-seater Alliance Air plane that landed at Kochi has been booked full on its return leg to Bengaluru
Alliance Air is a subsidiary of the state-run carrier Air India
Other airlines are also likely to fly to Kochi.Flights to other destinations such as Coimbatore and Madurai are likely to resume shortly,
Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu tweeted
The Indian Commercial Pilots' Association or ICPA has told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that they are willing to fly to flood-hit Kerala
without taking any payment.Floodwater has started receding in some areas of Kerala
However, the bigger concern now in the aftermath of the severe floods is lack of clean drinking water and diseases due to mosquito
infestation, especially in Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram.There has been no rain in central Kerala's Thrissur in the last 24 hours
People displaced by the floods have started returning homes
Relief agencies in Thrissur say they need more antiseptic soaps and disinfectants
Food packets and medicines are being dropped from helicopters.The centre has set up 3,700 medical camps across Kerala, the health ministry
They are actively monitoring patients to stop any contagious disease from spreading fast.The red alert in the state that had been in place
for days, was finally removed on Sunday
But some districts still have orange and yellow alerts, meaning they are not out of the woods yet.Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has
said the state has enough food to feed the flood-affected people
Transporting food and relief material, however, remains a challenge as long stretches of several important highways are flooded.The chief
minister said over seven lakh people are staying at 5,645 relief camps across Kerala
Two large boats of the Border Security reached Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday
Sixty tonnes of medicines from Hindon and 70 doctors from Mumbai have also arrived at the state capital, the National Disaster Management
Authority or NDMA tweeted.Mr Vijayan thanked fishing workers who participated in rescue operations
"All boats will be granted Rs 3,000 for each day of their work
Government will also bear the repairing costs of boats damaged during the mission," the chief minister's office tweeted.With Kerala
receiving over 250 per cent more rain than normal between August 8 and 15, the state's authorities had to release water from 35 dams where
the water had accumulated to their critical capacity.(Kerala has to rebuild itself after the worst floods in over a century
Hundreds have died and lakhs are homeless
Here is how you can help.)
