India searches for survivors after landslides kill more than 150 in Kerala

By Esha Mitra, Kunal Sehgal, Sandi Sidhu, Robert Shackelford and Lex Harvey, CNN

New Delhi (CNN) — Rescue operations are ongoing in India’s southern Kerala state on Wednesday after heavy monsoon rains triggered deadly landslides that swept through homes and stranded hundreds of people, officials said.

The death toll has surpassed 150, many of whom drowned, authorities said, adding that the number of casualties was expected to rise after at least two landslides hit the state’s northeastern Wayanad district in the early hours of Tuesday.

Rescue workers are now facing treacherous conditions due to heavy rain, lack of power, destroyed bridges and roads blocked by fallen trees as they try to reach survivors and determine the full scope of the disaster.

“We don’t know if people have been washed away in the river but we are doing our best to rescue people. We are leaving no stone unturned,” A. K. Saseendran, Kerala’s minister for forest and wildlife, told CNN Tuesday.

Emergency responders at the site of the landslides – which was covered in mud and toppled trees – carried away bodies in tarps and helped residents move to safety as rain poured down.

Videos posted to X by India’s National Disaster Response Force also showed rescue workers paddling through muddied water on inflatable boats to try to reach people.

“Helicopters have also been brought there, but the weather is bad,” said Veena George, the state health minister, on Tuesday. “There are many challenges there because there is no electricity.”

Up to 1,000 people have been rescued so far, the Indian Army’s southern command said in a post on X Wednesday.

Janaki, a local resident, told CNN her family was awoken in the middle of the night to a loud noise coming from the river and water flowing through her yard. They took shelter in a neighbor’s home, she said.

Then another landslide hit.

“While everyone was standing in a room in fear, large stones and logs came in there,” Janaki said, sitting in a bed in a local hospital.

“My two daughters and my husband survived. None of the people in the neighboring houses were seen.”

Janaki’s husband, Vasu, said rescue workers arrived around 6 a.m. and brought the family to the hospital. “God saved us,” he said.

Dr. Manoj Narayanan, the medical superintendent for Moopens Medical College Hospital in the village of Mepaddi told CNN that patients began arriving at the hospital near 3 a.m. local time Tuesday. The hospital had seen about 100 patients, he said, though around 10 were already dead on arrival.

Some were difficult to identify because of the extent of their injuries, he said.

“The injuries they are coming with include fractures, abrasions, lacerations, and quite a number of them have mud in their lungs,” Narayanan said.

Narayanan said he was told there are many people who need to be rescued, including in one village of 400 households that was “inaccessible,” and bodies were still being recovered underneath the debris.

CNN Weather reported widespread rainfall totals of 150 mm (6 inches) across Kerala, with some areas seeing almost 250 mm (10 inches) of rain in a 24-hour period. Kerala’s summers tend to be very wet, and these totals are standard for this time of year.

Heavy flooding and mudslides have killed hundreds, displaced millions and wrecked infrastructure across South Asia in recent months. While floods are common in the region during monsoon season, scientists say the climate crisis has exacerbated extreme weather events and made them more deadly.

China has also experienced weeks of damaging rain triggering floods and landslides.

In a post to X, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was “distressed by the landslides in parts of Wayanad. My thoughts are with all those who have lost their loved ones and prayers with those injured.”

His office announced payments of about $2,400 for the next of kin of those killed and about $600 each for the injured.

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This story has been updated with additional information. Aishwarya S Iyer contributed reporting.