The official death toll from flooding in the Indian state of Kerala spiked to at least 324 people on Friday, and the office of Kerala's chief minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, said "the rains continue to remain strong."More than 223,000 people are now being housed in some 1,500 relief camps, Vijayan's office says. Nearly the entire state in southern India is under a red alert."Torrential rains have been battering Kerala for the past nine days, causing the worst floods to hit the coastal state in a century," Sushmita Pathak reports from Mumbai for NPR's Newscast unit.On Wednesday alone, "the state received rainfall eight times heavier than normal," Reuters reports. "We're witnessing something that has never happened before in the history of Kerala," Vijayan told reporters, according to The Guardian. Monsoon rains have wrecked huge swaths of Kerala, known for its tropical beaches; wildlife; and tea, coffee and spice plantations. The Guardian reports that tens of thousands of homes and 6,000 miles of roads have been destroyed or badly damaged.Many of those killed were crushed by debris from landslides, according to the BBC. Earlier in the week, flash flooding swept away 11 people in central India, the CBC reported.Their fate remains unknown.With more heavy rain and wind forecast, NPR's Colin Dwyer reported that India's government is rushing to rescue those stranded in the floodwaters:
Monsoon Floods Have Killed More Than 320 People In Kerala, India
