At least six people died and 12 were missing as heavy rain battered Kerala on Saturday.

Four people, including a child, died in a landslide at Kuttikkal in Kottayam district where four others were missing. A few houses were washed away.

Three of the deceased were identified as Claramma Joseph, Sona and her mother Sini, minister for cooperation V.N. Vasavan told reporters in Kottayam. The fourth person has not been identified.

A young woman and a man drowned after their car was washed away at Thodupuzha in Idukki district. Locals who joined the rescue work told reporters that a man identified as Nikhil, a native of Koothattukulam in Ernakulam district, was driving the car. The woman has not been identified.

A migrant worker from Jharkhand, Nehardeep Kumar, was reported missing in a canal in Kannammoola in Thiruvananthapuram. Scuba divers have been engaged to search for him.

The India Meteorological Department has sounded a red alert for Pathanamthitta, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Idukki, Thrissur and Palakkad districts while orange alert has been issued for six other districts.

Revenue minister K. Rajan cited the weather forecast to inform that the red alert was likely to be lifted in all the six districts on Sunday.

A 33-member team of army personnel from Thiruvananthapuram left for Kanjirapally in Kottayam, one of the worst-affected areas where a large number of people have already been evacuated.

A major disaster was averted in Poonjar in Kottayam where a state road transport bus got stranded in floodwaters on its way to Eratupetta. Local people rescued the passengers and the crew.

Vasavan said several small landslips had been reported in the rain-affected districts. “The air force is sending two helicopters while the National Disaster Response Force teams will be arriving soon to join the rescue operation currently undertaken by the police and fire service,” the minister said.

He said water levels were receding in the worst-hit areas in Kottayam and Idukki although more rains were forecast later in the night.

Water resources minister Roshi Augustin urged people to cooperate with the rescue workers and be ready to be evacuated. “There is a possibility of flash floods in several areas where water rises rapidly. This could happen overnight. So people living in the affected areas should cooperate with the emergency services and be ready to be evacuated to safer areas immediately,” Augustin told reporters while supervising the rescue work in Kottayam.

Transport minister Anthony Raju told a channel that all bus services in the affected areas had been stopped. “The extra buses are ready to be despatched for emergency services, including evacuation of people,” he said.