While the rains wreaked havoc in Kerala with the death toll, now, over 370, and over 7 lakh displaced, the state also witnessed a lot of hate. Between narratives of several accounts of people's bravery to assist in helping the situation, it also saw people's bigotry.
And now, Kerala is battling fake news amid the chaos.
In a video, that has gone viral, a man in an army uniform claims that the Kerala government was mistreating the army. "I am addressing the Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan. Why do you have so much animosity towards the Indian army? Is it because your minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan doesn't want the army to come to your state?" the man says in the video in Malayalam.
The man said that 'thousands are stranded in Chengannur' and that the government is not letting the Army do their job. "Just let us come and do our work. We will not take over your state. Don't be scared," he said.
The video was shared on the Facebook page of 'Bharatiya Mahila Morcha Thalassery constituency'. From that page itself, the video was shared close to 28,000 times and liked by 6600 people.
The video was forwarded through Whatsapp and Facebook uploads. It's hard to tell that the video is fake given how authentic it looked.
The Indian army busted the fake video and tweeted advising people to not buy into the impostor spreading fake news. They also asked everyone to send 'fake messages' to a number they listed to put a curb on it especially in this troubled time.
The tweet also stated that the Indian army was "at it" trying to help rescue operations, and "every effort by all & #IndianArmy aimed to overcome this terrifying human tragedy." Earlier, the Chief Minister had said that four helicopters, five military boats, 65 fishing boats and four 100-member army team were deployed to carry out the rescue operation in Chengannur.
With the rains letting out and rescue operations underway, the state is slowly recovering. You can follow live updates
here.