Kerala Rains: IMD Issues Red Alert For 8 Districts as Heavy Downpour Continues in Several Areas

Kerala Rains Latest Update: The districts where the red alert has been issued for the day include Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Idukki, Thrissur, Palakkad and Kannur and Orange alert has been issued in the remaining districts except for Thiruvananthapuram where a Yellow alert is in place.

Kerala Rains Latest News Today: As heavy rains continued to lash various parts of Kerala, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Thursday issued red alert for 8 districts of the state. The heavy rains have disrupted the day-to-day lives of the people as roads got flooded or caved in and many got displaced from their homes to relief camps.

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The districts where the red alert has been issued for the day include Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Idukki, Thrissur, Palakkad and Kannur and Orange alert has been issued in the remaining districts except for Thiruvananthapuram where a Yellow alert is in place.

A red alert indicates heavy to extremely heavy rains of over 20 cm in 24 hours, while orange alert means very heavy rains of 6 cm to 20 cm. A yellow alert means heavy rainfall between 6 and 11 cm. The inclement weather in the state resulted in water levels of various rivers — like Pampa, Manimala and Achankovil — in Pathanamthitta district rising close to or crossing danger levels.

Several families have been relocated to relief camps anticipating landslides and floods in the wake of the heavy rains. The roof of an anganwadi building collapsed in Konni taluk of Pathanamthitta district, officials said and added that there were no casualties.

The water in some major dams and reservoirs of the state is also rising with the water in Idukki reservoir reaching blue alert storage levels and in Ponmudi dam, in Idukki district, it has reached red alert storage level. Meanwhile, six shutters of Malankara dam in Idukki were opened by 100 cm at 6 AM, officials of the district told PTI.

The water level in the Mullaperiyar dam was at 135.35 feet at 11 AM, according to Idukki district officials. Besides Pathanamthitta and Idukki, the districts of Kottayam, Thrissur and Kozhikode too witnessed heavy rainfall.

In Kozhikode, the inclement weather led to five flights from the Middle East which were bound to Calicut Airport being diverted to Cochin International Airport. Air Arabia flights from Sharjah and Abu Dhabi, Gulf Air flight from Bahrain, Air India Express flight from Abu Dhabi and Qatar Airways flight from Doha were those diverted to Cochin, the Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) said.

A holiday was declared for schools and educational institutions in various districts of the state a day ago due to heavy rains, but in Ernakulam the announcement was made only after 8 AM on Thursday, leading to many students turning up in schools and then having to be sent back home.

(With inputs from PTI)

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