CHOORALMALA, India - Rescue workers began looking for people trapped under debris early on Wednesday, a day after landslides caused havoc in the Wayanad district of India's Kerala state, with at least 151 people dead and many still missing.

Heavy rain in one of India's most attractive tourist destinations collapsed hillsides and triggered torrents of mud, water and tumbling boulders in the worst disaster in the state since deadly floods in 2018.

Most of the 350 families living in the area surrounded by tea and cardamom estates were caught unaware by the landslides early on Tuesday morning.

At least 151 people died and 187 were still missing, the state chief minister's spokesman, P.M. Manoj, told Reuters by phone.

Television visuals showed many houses destroyed and trees uprooted, as rescuers were pulled by ropes across muddy streams of water.

The government was considering making a portable, pre-fabricated Bailey bridge to connect the affected area, after the main bridge to the nearest town of Chooralmala was destroyed, K. Rajan, the state revenue minister told Asianet TV.

After a day of extremely heavy rainfall that hampered rescue operations, the weather department expects some respite on Wednesday, although the area is likely to receive rain through the day.

  - Reuters