Kerala floods turn deadly as India suffers relentless monsoonal deluge
Colin DailedaAugust 9 at 2:06 PM
More than three-dozen people are dead and thousands have been forced from their homes as floods ravage parts of southern India, particularly the state of Kerala, which was devastated by flooding in 2018. The floods are associated with the Indian monsoon, but even for a seasonal weather phenomenon known to produce heavy rainfall, the ongoing event stands out as unusually severe.Rain fell in tearing sheets Thursday in Ooty, like it was trying to rip the hill station off its mountain. Outside the town was what appeared to be a river that frothed beyond a row of trees at the side of the street, its surface blown into grayish caps by the gusts. Rain beat on the roofs of cars as if it, too, wanted out of the storm.
Up ahead, traffic slowed as drivers approached the bridge, which turned out not to be a bridge at all, just as the river turned out not to be a river, either.
The bridge was a regular road, and the river was composed of water that had swept down the surrounding mountains and rushed across the street, flooding the fields beyond.
Ooty, also known as Udhagamandalam, is a small hill station in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Over a period of 24 hours that began Wednesday, more rain fell in the nearby avalanche region of the state — 32 inches — than has ever been recorded there, according to state government data being verified by the India Meteorological Department.
Outside a government office, a man named Ganesh pulled up in a truck and offered a ride into town. He introduced himself as an aide worker from Ooty who had moved back after spending a lot of time in Europe and the Middle East when he had worked for American Express. He was driving out to what he had heard was a particularly bad landslide, hoping to help with whatever supplies he had in the back.
“People are suffering,” he said.
On Friday, Ganesh answered the phone, but his voice faded in and out. Service was patchy, and anyway he’d have to call back because he was going to be out for a while. He was driving through the relentless rain, on his way to the aftermath of yet another landslide. He’d counted 17 of them on Thursday, but already on Friday there seemed to be more.
More than a foot of rain falls in one day
Damaging Kerala floods turn fatal in India – The Washington Post
Kerala floods turn deadly as India suffers relentless monsoonal deluge Colin DailedaAugust 9 at 2:06 PM More than three-dozen people are dead and thousands have been forced from their homes as floods ravage parts of southern India, particularly the state of Kerala, which was devastated by flooding in 2018. The floods are associated with the… [Read More]
