Thiruvananthapuram: As Kerala observes Chingam 1, the auspicious beginning of year 1195 in Malayalam calendar, the rains are set to abate across the state. Confirming the IMD predictions, the South West monsoon had turned "weak" over Kerala on Friday.
There was respite for the rain-battered state, even as the toll climbed to 116 with more bodies being retrieved from landslide hit areas in Malappuram and Wayanad districts.
The sunny weather aided search operations as more bodies were retrieved from Kavalappara in Malappuram and Puthumala in Meppadi in Wayanad, the worst hit in the second spell of rains since August 8.
According to an IMD bulletin, strong winds from south-westerly direction speed reaching 45-55 kmph likely to prevail over Southwest and adjoining West-central Arabian Sea.
No red, orange or yellow alerts have been issued for Saturday.The warnings issued to fishermen have been withdrawn.
Holiday for educational institutions
Some educational institutions in six districts will continue to remain shut on Saturday owing to relief and rehabilitation work.
In Alappuzha's Kuttanad taluk all educational institutions will remain shut on Saturday. In other taluks, the institutions where relief camps are operating will remain shut.
In Kottayam district, only those institutions running relief camps have been given a holiday on Saturday.
Search-ops, relief works continue
Meanwhile, search operations continued at Kavalappara and Puthumala, where a series of landslides had wiped out two villages last week.
Transport minister A K Saseendran told media persons that a special equipment called Ground Penetrating Radar would be airlifted from Hyderabad to search operations.
An official update said the maximum causalities were reported from Malappuram with 48 deaths, while 17 people from Kozhikode lost their lives.
The state government had announced a flood compensation package with an immediate financial aid of up to Rs 10,000 each to all calamity-hit families.
The latest was one highlighted by Pinarayi Vijayan on his Facebook page, in which he posted the photo of Sreenath Namboothiri, the head priest of a Devi temple at Mankada in Malappuram district. The priest donated his earrings to volunteers when they approached him.
"When such people are around us, nothing can bring us down," the chief minister wrote in his post.
(With inputs from PTI)
