Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to immediately declare the floods in Kerala as a national disaster.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday announced Rs 500 crore financial assistance for flood-ravaged Kerala where hundreds of people have died, lakhs have been rendered homeless and property worth millions of rupees has been destroyed in one of the worst floods and torrential rain in recent history.

 The State Bank of India (SBI) has donated Rs 2 crore for the Kerala flood victims and initiated several other ground-level measures in the deluged state, an official said on Saturday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday began his aerial survey of the massive loss and destruction triggered by the torrential rains in Kerala, after it was initially called off due to bad weather.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's aerial survey to witness the massive loss and destruction triggered by the torrential rains in Kerala was called off on Saturday due to bad weather, state government officials said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived here on Friday night to see for himself the rain-battered Kerala and also survey the relief and rescue operations.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday expressed concern over the flood situation in Kerala and urged party workers to demonstrate the core party values of service and help those in need.

BJP leader Arun Jaitley on Friday in his blog eulogised the late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and, disagreeing with many who termed his death "end of an era", emphasised that it would instead be "a continuation of the era" forged by the late leader.