The death toll from a series of landslides in Kerala has risen to 166 and almost 200 people are still missing as the southern Indian state reels from one of its worst disasters in years.
Hundreds of homes were swept away and crushed by two huge consecutive landslides in the hilly district of Wayanad in the middle of the night on Tuesday.
The landslides occurred after the steep terrain was hit by five times the normal amount of rain, with some regions reporting more than 300mm (1ft) of rainfall within 24 hours.
Entire villages were submerged in mud as the large volume of rain caused the Eruvazhanji River to overflow and change course, gushing through places where hundreds of people were asleep in their homes. Several tea and cardamom plantations were also devastated.
Hundreds of workers took part in the rescue operation on Wednesday, pulling bodies from the mud and debris, but it was hampered by adverse weather conditions and access difficulties after key roads and bridges were washed away in the disaster. At the end of the second day of rescue efforts, about 190 people were still missing or unidentified, children among them, and fears were fading for their survival.
The Indian army evacuated more than 5,500 people from the area, including hundreds of stranded tourists, and took them to dozens of relief camps as the heavy rains continued.
A political row broke out over the disaster after India’s home minister, Amit Shah, said warnings had been given to the Kerala state government – ruled by an opposition party – about the potential threat of landslides in the region due to heavy monsoon rains.
“Teams were sent in Kerala in advance. The Kerala government did not evacuate people in time,” Shah told parliament on Wednesday. However, Kerala’s chief minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, said a red alert had only been given after the landslides and that this was not the time for a “blame game”.
Jayan, a resident of the Chooralmala village, one of the worst-hit areas, told the Indian Express that 11 of his family members were still missing. “We have only got three dead bodies so far and the remaining are still missing,” he said.
Landslides have become increasingly common in Kerala in the monsoon season as the climate crisis has triggered unusually intense periods of rainfall, causing havoc on the state’s hilly terrain.
Environmentalists have also warned that the problem has been worsened by increased construction of houses on unstable hill terrain and the clearing of forests to make way for plantations, which has destabilised the soil and made the area more vulnerable to landslides.