NEW DELHI: A massive rescue operation was underway in the southern Indian state of Kerala on Tuesday following landslides that have killed dozens of people in the hilly district of Wayanad.

The landslides struck in the early hours of the morning when people were asleep as waves of mud crushed their homes.

Teams from civil defense, police, 200 personnel of the army, and rescue swimmers from the navy have been deployed to the affected areas, but search efforts were hampered by heavy rains.

The Kerala Revenue Ministry estimated that at least 84 people were dead and 116 injured, but the Wayanad District Disaster Response Force told Arab News it was difficult to ascertain the exact numbers, as more than 120 were missing, trapped under mud and debris.

“We fear that the death figure will go up as many missing might be dead. As of now, we can’t speculate,” the disaster response force office told Arab News. “Rescue operation is going on in full swing.”

Most of Kerala was on the India Meteorological Department’s highest alert due to extreme rainfall on Tuesday morning.

Jebi Mather, member of the upper house of the Indian Parliament representing Kerala, told lawmakers that reports from the state indicate that entire families had disappeared under the mud.

“The devastation cannot be measured at this moment … It is so vast,” she said.

Some 350 families lived in the hilly forest region, where most residents worked on tea and cardamom plantations.

Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, the former MP for Wayanad, said in a post on X that he was “deeply anguished” by the disaster.

“The devastation unfolding in Wayanad is heartbreaking,” he said. “I have urged the Union government … to extend all possible support.”

The Kerala government declared official mourning on Tuesday and Wednesday.