Thiruvananthapuram: The India Meteorological Department has predicted that heavy to very heavy rainfall would occur at isolated places across Kerala on Wednesday. As per the alert sounded at 7 pm on Wednesday, heavy rain accompanied by winds with a speed reaching upto 40 km per hour will lash Idukki, Palakkad, Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasaragod districts by 10 pm.
IMD has sounded a red alert for Kasaragod, Kannur, Wayanad and Kozhikode districts on Wednesday in view of the revised rain forecast. An orange alert is sounded for Malappuram, Palakkad, Thrissur, Idukki and Ernakulam districts, while Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, and Kottayam districts are placed under yellow alert.
The Met Department has predicted that Kerala will continue to receive heavy rainfall till August 2 under the influence of an off-shore trough at a mean sea level along south Gujarat to Kerala coasts. A yellow alert is sounded for all districts except Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha and Kottayam districts on Thursday.
Fishermen are advised not to venture into the Kerala-Karnataka-Lakshadweep coasts. The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) has sounded a warning for high tidal waves and Kalla Kadal (swell waves) phenomenon off the Kerala coast on Wednesday night till 11.30.
Wayanad on high alert
In Wayanad, the authorities on Wednesday directed people living in landslide-prone areas of the hill district to move to safer places at the earliest. People living in landslide-prone areas and in places that have experienced landslides in previous years should be cautious, district Collector D R Meghasree said.
In a statement, she mentioned places like Kurumbalakotta, Lakkidi, Manikunnumala, Sugandhagiri, and so on, and urged people there to exercise extra vigil. The Collector also informed that those who have been asked to move to the camps should shift from their residence at the earliest. Secretaries of the local self-government bodies and village officers should take the necessary steps in this regard, the official added.(With PTI inputs)