Thiruvananthapuram, May 30 (IANS) Five people died in separate incidents on Friday as rains came down heavily across all the 14 districts of Kerala, officials said.

In Kottayam, two youths who ventured out for fishing in a flooded paddy field at Kollad got drowned when the canoe in which they were capsized.

At Vizhinjam in the state capital city, two fishermen who had ventured out for fishing were drowned after the boat was tossed upside down in the sea.

A migrant worker from West Bengal, identified as Ramakrishnan, 38, working in a fishing boat in Ernakulam, fell overboard.

Meanwhile, two people from Malappuram have been reported missing.

Apart from the deaths, the heavy rains that hit all across the state caused road blockages at various places due to flooding.

Road traffic was thrown haywire, and the worst-affected were the low-lying areas in numerous districts.

Around 2,000 homes across the state have been partially damaged.

The Indian Meteorological Department has announced a red alert in the districts of Idukki, Kannur, Kasargod, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Ernakulam, and Thrissur, while an orange alert has been announced in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, and Wayanad.

On Friday, the number of relief camps, in which close to 2,000 people have been accommodated, reached 60.

With waters flooding low-lying areas in Thiruvalla in central Kerala, a grieving woman was more broken-hearted after she was told that the body of her husband, who passed away early in the day, could not be brought to their home as the entire area had been flooded.

“Now I am told that the body of my husband will be kept at our relative’s home near the church where the funeral will be held,” she said.

Electricity Minister K.Krishnankutty said the Kerala State Electricity Board is on a high alert and its staff are working overtime to ensure power lines are restored at the earliest.

The Board has issued a warning that if power lines are snapped, the matter should be immediately reported, and no one should do anything.

Most trains in the state on Friday are running behind schedule after numerous trees were uprooted and fell onto the tracks on Thursday night.

–IANS

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