Commercial flight operations begin from Kochi

In Kerala, commercial flight operations from the Naval airport at Kochi commenced today with the first Air India flight from Bengaluru arriving at Kochi airport this morning. The same flight returned to Bengaluru at 8.30 A.M.

Small aircraft are being operated from the naval airport as the Kochi International Airport has been shut operations till 26th of August following flooding in the heavy rains. Train services between state capital and Ernakulam are also slowly becoming normalised.

Skeletal services were run between Ernakulam and Thiruvananthapuram and Alappuzha-Kottayam routes saw trains packed with flood-affected people moving to the houses of their friends and relatives.

The deadly monsoon rains have claimed 210 lives since 8th of this month and has displaced over 7 lakh people from their homes.In the worst affected Chengannur in Alappuzha district, efforts are on to rescue some of those stranded in certain pockets

According to India Met Department, a fresh low-pressure area has formed over North West Bay of Bengal yesterday.



However, it will not have any significant impact over Kerala, where rainfall is likely to decrease further gradually during the next five days.

According to Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), Kerala has so far received 2346 mm of rains against the normal 1649 mm. High-range Idukki recorded the highest excess rainfall 92 per cent above normal followed by Palakkad 72 per cent above normal.

Thirteen people lost their lives yesterday while 7,24,649 lakh people were housed in 5,645 relief camps across the state. Rescue operations are in the final stages. Around 22,000 people were rescued yesterday alone in the operations launched by the defence personnel, national and state disaster response forces, fishermen and local people.

The Chief Minister, Mr Pinarayi Vijayan said in each panchayat six health officers would be deployed to ensure there was no outbreak of any communicable diseases as the flood water recedes. People have started returning home from relief centres with flood waters receding.