Kerala is recovering from a major flood, exactly a year after being hit by another one. Last year’s floods were described as a once-in-a-century calamity, this one was an ecological disaster waiting to happen.

Along with extremely heavy rain, an analysis of the floods shows that the huge number of deaths in the floods could be linked to the rampant destruction of the Western Ghats, the biodiversity hotspot that covers about half of Kerala.

This is a view from combined “Twenty30 Association” and “Musaliar College of Engineering”, Alamcode Main collection point. Packing Relief materials for sending to Alappuzha and Nilambur as part of “Kerala Floods 2019”.

Flood-hit Kerala saw water receding in many districts even as the death toll in the state rose to 104 on Thursday. The Indian Meteorological Department has forecast heavy rainfall in many parts of the country in the next few days.

In flood-hit Kerala, water receded in many low-lying areas and the state began to return to normalcy, even as toll in the second spell of the southwest monsoon rose to 104 with 36 missing.

Search operations continued at Kavalappara in Malappuram and Puthumala in Wayanad, where a series of landslides had wiped out two villages last week, to trace those who were feared to have been buried alive.

An alert for isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall was sounded in northern districts of Kannur and Kasaragod, while heavy rainfall has been forecast for Idukki, Kannur and Kasaragod for Friday, IMD officials said.

An ‘orange alert’ (isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall) was sounded in northern districts of Kannur and Kasaragod on Thursday while’yellow alert’ (heavy rainfall) has been issued in Idukki, Kannur and Kasaragod for Friday, IMD authorities said.

Drones were engaged in search operations at Kavalappara.

According to the government update, a total of 11,901 houses have been partially damaged and 1115 fully damaged. The state government had on Wednesday announced a package of flood compensation with an immediate financial aid of up to Rs 10,000 each to all calamity-hit families.