New Delhi, Oct 26 (IANS): The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) will soon send Inter-Ministerial Central Teams (IMCTs) to Kerala and Uttarakhand to assess the damage caused by heavy rain and floods to standing crops and infrastructure, officials here said on Tuesday.

The teams will visit the flood-affected areas in these two states and make on the spot assessment after which they will submit a report to the MHA, following which the Ministry will allocate Central assistance from the National Disaster Relief Fund, the officials added.

In case of Uttarakhand, the Central government had recently approved Rs 250 crore, and also an additional Rs 749.60 crore was released to the state, the officials said.

The Uttarakhand government has estimated the total damage at Rs 7,000 crore and will send a report to the Centre to seek financial assistance from it.

Both states witnessed flood situation due to heavy rains and have caused substantial damage to standing crops and infrastructure, while West Bengal and Odisha also faced a similar situation with less damage and casuality.

Heavy rains occurred on October 17 which lashed the hilly state for five days, killing at least 64 persons while 3,500 people have been rescued and more than 16,000 others were evacuated to safer places.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah visited Uttarakhand on October 20 and 21, during which he conducted an aerial survey of the flood-affected areas with Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and other state officials.

In Kerala, the toll in incidents related to the heavy rain, including landslides and flash floods, rose to 22.

The officials of the Kerala government said it will send a report on the damage caused by heavy rains to the Centre.

Kerala had faced a similar situation on August 18 this year, and after making an aerial tour of the flood-affected state, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced financial assistance of Rs 500 crore to the state.