There will be holiday for educational institutions in 12 districts of Kerala on Wednesday in view of heavy rains which continue to lash the state.

The district collectors have declared holiday for all educational institutions, including professional colleges, in Kozhikode, Kollam, Thrissur, Alappuzha, Ernakulam, Malappuram, Idukki, Palakkad, Pathanamthitta, Wayanad, Thiruvananthapuram and Kottayam districts on Wednesday, the respective district collectors said on Tuesday.

In Thrissur, examinations will take place as scheduled earlier.

Examinations and interviews will take place as scheduled earlier in Malappuram district, collector V R Premkumar said.

In Palakkad also, exams will take place as scheduled.

Mahatma Gandhi University has postponed all exams scheduled for Wednesday.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued red alert in 10 districts of Kerala for Tuesday as incessant rains continued to lash Kerala with reports of landslides and rising river water levels in some parts of the state,

IMD also issued a Red alert in the same 10 districts for August 3 also.

The red alert is issued in all the districts of the state barring Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta and Kasaragod, where Orange alerts have been issued for August 2 and 3, according to an IMD district rainfall forecast issued for Kerala at 10 AM on Tuesday.

The department also warned of widespread and isolated heavy and very heavy rainfall in the state till August 5.

Various weather models of the Central Meteorological Department, National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting, National Centers for Environmental Prediction and European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, also said widespread heavy rainfall is expected in several districts of Kerala during the day.

In view of the Red alerts issued by the IMD, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said people should be very careful and everyone should be prepared to strictly follow the warnings issued by the Disaster Management Authority.

The incessant rains caused landslides in several places in Kannur district on Monday night leading to the death of two persons -- a 45-year-old man and a two-and-a-half-year-old girl -- with another 55-year-old man still missing, the district officials said in a release.