Kerala on rain red alert as floods close Kochi airport

At least 39 people have been killed in the past three weeks and more than 50,000 displaced in an area famed for its palm-lined beaches and tea plantations.Authorities have opened the gates of 34 reservoirs as water reached dangerous levels. Hundreds of villages have been flooded and the military has been called in to help with rescues.More than 10,000 kilometres of roads and hundreds of homes have been destroyed or damaged across the state, officials said.Fire and rescue personnel evacuate local residents in an inflatable boat from a flooded area at Muppathadam near Eloor in Kochi's Ernakulam district.Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayantarget="_blank"'>The US embassy last week advised Americans to avoid Kerala, which drew more than one million foreign tourists last year, according to official data.