Video: 29 dead, tourists stranded in Kerala; Rajnath Singh assures all possible assistance

Heavy rains continue to lash Kerala prompting authorities to open all floodgates of Idukki dam on Friday. According to reports, Cheruthoni town, located close to the dam is worst hit.

Ernakulam and Thrissur districts have been put on red alert. As many as 29 people have died in rain, flood-related accidents in the state. 

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday assured all possible assistance to the calamity-hit state. He will also visit the state on August 12. 

"We will provide all necessary assistance to the state," Singh told the MPs from Kerala during the Zero Hour.

According to state disaster control room sources, 241 relief camps have been opened and 15,695 people have been shifted from low-lying areas.

Over 5,500 people from Wayanad district, where a red alert had been sounded yesterday, have been shifted to relief camps, the sources said this morning.

In Ernakulam, 3,456 people have been shifted to camps following floods after four shutters of the Idamalayar dam were opened yesterday. The government has asked tourists not to go to high-range areas and dam sites.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday spoke with the Kerala Chief Minister in the wake of heavy rains and floods in the state and offered all possible assistance to those affected.

Army and Navy forces have been deployed in critical regions, carrying out relief and rescue operations at war-footing. 

"The Government of India is providing all the required assistance including services of armed forces, disaster management team and other required assistance. Any other immediate assistance requested by the Government of Kerala will be provided," Union minister Alphons Kannamthanam said in a Facebook post.

Meanwhile, more than 50 tourists, including 24 from abroad, have been stranded in Idukki district of Kerala for the past two days as the road leading to their resort in Munnar was damaged in a landslide triggered by heavy rains.

Union Minister KJ Alphons on Thursday called it Kerala's "biggest rain in 50 years".

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan described the flood situation in the state as "very grim". He also noted that it was for the first time in the history of the state that 22 dams have been opened at a time.

(With inputs from agencies)