Nearly 1,000 people have been rescued after landslides in the hills of Wayanad district in India's Kerala state, authorities said, with at least 151 people dead and many still missing.
It was the worst disaster in the state since deadly floods in 2018. The Indian Army said it rescued 1,000 people and has begun the process to construct an alternate bridge after the main bridge linking the worst affected area of Mundakkai to the nearest town of Chooralmala was destroyed.
Near the site where the bridge was washed away, a land excavator was slowing removing trees and boulders from a mound of debris. Rescue workers in raincoats were making their way carefully through slush and rocks, under steady rain.
The landslides were mostly on the upper slopes of hills which then cascaded to the valley below, M R Ajith Kumar, a top state police officer said.
Nearly 350 of the 400 registered houses in the affected region have been damaged.
After a day of extremely heavy rainfall that hampered rescue operations, the weather department expects some respite on July 31, although the area is likely to receive rain through the day.