The death toll from landslides and floods following torrential rains in Kerala state has risen to 35, officials in charge of disaster management in India said Monday.
Twenty-two of them were killed in two landslides in Kottayam and Idukki districts, which swept away many homes and buried others under the mud and debris.
Reports indicated many drowning incidents and people being swept away by flood waters.
Local television footage showed a two-storey house falling into a flooded river, as well as destroying roads and bridges and uprooting trees in the affected areas.
It was also reported that water in several dams had risen to dangerous levels in the state.
Water is gradually being released from these dams, evacuating thousands of people from low-lying areas along the rivers, and sheltering them in more than 100 relief camps, according to a statement issued by the office of state chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
The Meteorological Authority warned of a new wave of very heavy rain that will start on Wednesday and last for at least three days, raising fears of more floods.
.