Kerala floods: Victims face snake menace as waters recede

Floodwaters are receding in Kerala - but have left behind a glut of snakes

Flood victims returning home in the Indian state of Kerala have been warned to prepare for a new menace: Snakes.

Several snake-catching teams have been deployed to affected areas, amid fears the reptiles could be hiding in cupboards, under carpets, or inside washing machines in previously submerged homes.

Hospitals in the worst-hit areas are readying supplies of anti-venom.

Devastating flooding has killed around 400 people in Kerala since June.

More than a million others were displaced, with many of them taking shelter in thousands of relief camps across the southern state.

As well as the glut of snakes, scorpions and other insects are reported to have moved into human homes.

On social media, footage emerged of a woman trying to stop a 10ft (3m)-long python from entering her garden by tapping a broomstick on the ground.

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Several hospitals in northern and central Kerala, where flooding was especially acute, have reported a spike in patients with snake bites.

Local snake handler Vava Suresh told the Hindustan Times he had captured five cobras in Ernakulam district.

"One was found inside the wardrobe on the second floor of a house... while another one was inside a shelf in a house," he said.

Returning residents are being urged to sift through their belongings using a stick, the Press Trust of India reports.

Locals have been warned that snakes could hide in clothes - so it's best to go through them with a stick