WAYANAD, India (AFP)— Relentless downpours and howling winds hampered Wednesday’s search for survivors of landslides that struck Indian tea plantations and killed at least 160 people, most believed to be labourers and their families.

Days of torrential monsoon rains have battered the southern coastal state of Kerala, with blocked roads into the Wayanad district disaster area complicating relief efforts.

The only bridge connecting the worst-hit villages of Chooralmala and Mundakkai was washed away, forcing rescue teams to carry bodies on stretchers out of the disaster zone using a makeshift zipline erected over raging flood waters.

Several people who managed to flee the initial impact of the landslides found themselves caught in a nearby river that had burst its banks, volunteer rescuer Arun Dev told AFP at a hospital treating survivors.

“Those who escaped were swept away along with houses, temples and schools,” he said.

Senior police officer M.R. Ajith Kumar told AFP that around 500 people had been rescued since successive landslides struck before dawn on Tuesday.

“Still large areas are to be explored and searched to find out whether live people are there or not,” he said.

Wayanad is famed for the tea estates that crisscross its hilly countryside and which rely on a large pool of labourers for planting and harvest.

A number of brick-walled row homes built to accommodate seasonal workers were inundated by a powerful wall of brown sludge as labourers and their families slept.

Other buildings were caked with mud as the force of the landslide scattered cars, corrugated iron and other debris around the disaster site.

“Catastrophic debris flows are extremely violent, so survival is very difficult,” Hull University earth scientist Dave Petley told AFP.

“This will have been exacerbated by the timing — in the early hours when people were asleep — and by flimsy structures that offered little protection.”

A total of 160 bodies had been recovered so far, the office of state revenue minister K. Rajan told reporters.

More than 3,000 people were sheltering in emergency relief camps around Wayanad district, the state government said.

At least 572 millimetres (22.5 inches) of rain fell in the two days leading up to the landslides, according to state chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

Kerala’s disaster agency said more rain and strong winds were forecast for the week with the likelihood of “damage to unsafe structures” elsewhere in the state.