Farmer Sanmathy Raj was walking to his field last week when he stopped short. Dead earthworms covered the ground. “I couldn’t walk without stepping on them,” he said. It’s normal for earthworms to creep out of the soil after rains, but Kolavayal, Raj’s village in Kerala’s Wayanad district, has been dry since flood waters receded.

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Baffling as the scene was, mass earthworm deaths have also been reported from other parts of Wayanad and Idukki districts. Scientists and the state government are worried, as earthworms maintain soil fertility, and their decimation so soon after the floods could mean another crisis.

The last time earthworms died in such large numbers in Wayanad was in the summer of 2016, and experts say high soil temperatures could be the cause.