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Indian couple float to their wedding in a cooking pot along flooded streets

An Indian couple have arrived for their wedding in unusual style after sailing through the flooded streets of their town in a cooking pot after heavy rains wrecked havoc in the southern state of Kerala.

Footage shared across social media showed the newlyweds squeezed inside the aluminium vessel while two men and a photographer paddled the pair down a submerged street.

The couple reportedly borrowed the pot from a local temple, adding that it was “the only option” available at short notice, local news agency PTI reported.

Undeterred by the flooding and landslides caused by heavy rains which killed at least 27 people across the state, the pair were unwilling to postpone their big day.

Footage later showed the bride and groom arriving safe and dry at a small partially flooded temple in Thalavady where they exchanged floral garlands, a tradition in many Hindu wedding ceremonies.

“It has turned into a wedding which we never imagined,” the bride told local news channel Asianet.

The pair were determined to go through with the ceremony despite the extreme weather.

“Should have booked a boat instead of a car …,” a man can be heard saying in the background of one video, Agence France-Presse reported.

According to local media reports, husband and wife Akash and Aishwarya are both healthcare workers at a hospital in Chengannur.

Heavy rainfall has caused serious flooding and deadly landslides across the state over the past four days. Rivers have overflowed and bridges and roads have been swept away - in some cases entire towns and villages have been cut off.

Related: India floods: at least 25 dead after heavy rains spark landslides in Kerala

Images from the region showed cars and buses submerged by the flood waters as several homes were washed away in mud and debris.

Rescuers searched for survivors on Monday as the army, navy and air force assisted with relief and rescue operations.

Sheeba George, the senior official in Idukki district, told local media that dozens of families had been evacuated from their homes ahead of the dam openings.

The state government said it had evacuated thousands of people and set up over 100 relief camps.

Widespread rain, including isolated heavy downpours was expected to batter the region for the next two to three days from 20 October, the state government said on Monday. In 2018, flooding killed nearly 500 people in the worst floods to hit the state in almost a century.

With Agence France-Presse and Reuters