Wedding unimagined: Couple floats down aisle in cooking vessel in flood-hit Kerala

A soon-to-be married Indian couple in Kerala's Alappuzha had to sail to their wedding venue in a cooking vessel as heavy rain inundated the southern state.

A viral video is floating around the internet, in which the bride Aishwarya, a resident of Ambalapuzha, and the groom Akash, a resident of Thakazhi, are seen sitting in a round cooking pot, which is being pushed by two men as a cameraman attempts to capture their unusual trip down the aisle. Hindustan Times has not independently verified the video.

"It has turned into a wedding which we never imagined," Aishwarya told reporters after concluding her nuptials at the Panayannurkavu Devi temple.

Locals can be heard laughing and expressing their bewilderment at the unusual scene that greeted them on Monday. "Should have booked a boat instead of a car," a man can be heard saying in the background.

Flash floods and landslides, brought about by torrential downpour, have claimed 24 lives so far in the southern state. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a yellow alert for 11 districts of the state for Monday.

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and armed forces have been deployed across the state to help assist in rescue operations. The state government has opened hundreds of relief centers across the state to shelter the thousands of people evacuated due to flooding.

The heavy downpour which experts opine might have been caused by a cloudburst has also destroyed 90 houses and partially damaged 702 homes, the State Disaster Relief Force has said.

(with agency inputs)