The worst floods in a century in India’s southern state of Kerala have killed 324 people, caused $2.8 billion in damage and left more than 220,000 homeless since start of the monsoon season in June as the armed forces and rescue teams try to evacuate low-lying areas in which others are still stranded. One of the country’s top tourist destinations, promoted for decades as ‘God’s Own Country,’ Kerala boasts of miles of beaches and palm-fringed backwaters. It has been hit by unprecedented rain in the past few days, forcing authorities to open flood gates at as many as 80 dams.

The worst floods in a century in India’s southern state of Kerala have killed 324 people, caused $2.8 billion in damage and left more than 220,000 homeless since start of the monsoon season in June as the armed forces and rescue teams try to evacuate low-lying areas in which others are still stranded. One of the country’s top tourist destinations, promoted for decades as ‘God’s Own Country,’ Kerala boasts of miles of beaches and palm-fringed backwaters. It has been hit by unprecedented rain in the past few days, forcing authorities to open flood gates at as many as 80 dams.