Kerala floods: Indians returning to homes beset by deadly snakes and scorpions hiding in beds and cupboards

Residents told to check in beds, under carpets and inside washing machines using a long stick

Flood victims returning home in the Indian state of Kerala have been warned they now face yet another danger: deadly snakes and scorpions hiding in beds and cupboards and under carpets.

Authorities say thousands of reptiles and arachnids are likely to have been washed into previously submerged houses.

Washing machines, piles of clothes and beneath furniture should all be checked with long sticks, a state government spokesman has said.

Hospitals have been ordered to ready anti-venom in preparation for an expected surge in bites and poisonings following the catastrophe.

A video posted online showed one woman hitting the ground with a broom in an attempt to scare a 10ft snake out of her garden.

In another picture, the former Indian national team football captain Inivalappil Mani Vijaya was shown apparently removing a king cobra he had found in his kitchen.

Some 400 people died when 80 river banks burst following monsoon rains earlier this month. More than a million others were displaced, with an estimated 800,000 taking temporary shelter at relief camps.

“Snakes are spotted at many flood-hit homes and alerts have been issued to exercise caution when returning home,” a Kerala government spokesman told AFP on Friday. “Hospitals have been equipped to face the situation. Instructions have been given to arrange facilities to treat snakebite victims.”

Hospitals in northern and central Kerala – the worst-hit areas – have already told local media they are seeing a rise in patients seeking treatment for bites or poisoning.

One snake handler Vava Suresh said he had captured five cobras in Ernakulam district, according to the Hindustan Times.

“One was found inside the wardrobe on the second floor of a house ... while another one was inside a shelf in a house,” he is reported as saying.

The floods – called the region’s worst in more than a century – have caused some £2.5bn worth of damage and destroyed an estimated 50,000 homes.