Kerala rains: State to witness heavy rainfall today, six districts on ‘yellow alert’

There seems to be little respite for several parts of Kerala as the India Meteorological Department has predicted that the state will witness heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places on Thursday.

There seems to be little respite for several parts of Kerala as the India Meteorological Department has predicted that the state will witness heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places on Thursday. A yellow alert has been issued in Pathanamthitta, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Idukki, Palakkad and Wayanad districts for Thursday. The weather department has predicted rainfall between 64.4 mm and 124.4 mm in these areas.

Kerala has received a cumulative rainfall of 2471 mm — an excess of 24 per cent over the course of three months of the southwest monsoon, even as it is gradually recovering from the havoc caused by devastating floods that claimed the lives of 488 people.

Skymet said the cyclonic circulation over the Bay of Bengal had moved westward and would dominate southern India by Thursday through to the weekend. The circulation will bring heavy rain accompanied by thunderstorms in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka, the forecast said.

The yellow alert will be in force at Ernakulam, Idukki, Kozhikode, Palakkad and Wayanad districts on September 28. For the following day, an alert has been issued for Idukki, Palakkad and Malappuram. On September 30, the warning will be in force in Pathanamthitta, Idukki, Malappuram and Kozhikode districts.

Idukki, a hilly district home to several major dams like the Mullaperiyar and the Cheruthoni, has received a ‘large excess’ of rainfall this year, over 70% than the usual quantity it gets every monsoon.

The weather department has asked disaster management officials to remain alert and directives have also been issued to open control rooms at all taluks in the hilly areas. The IMD also said that buildings which can serve as relief camps need to be arranged with necessary facilities.

Red alert signifies heavy rainfall, while yellow denotes heavy rainfall at isolated places. A green alert is usually issued for light to moderate rainfalls. Meanwhile, the IMD has also predicted heavy rain at isolated places in Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, and Tripura.

Meanwhile, in relief for northern India, parts of which have been battered by flash floods and landslides triggered by heavy rainfall in the past few days, the IMD has said that conditions were becoming favourable for the commencement of withdrawal of southwest monsoon during the next three to four days.

About 22 people died in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir as north India saw the wettest weather in three years. More than 800 stranded people were rescued and moved to safer places in Himachal Pradesh over the last three days in the state’s “biggest-ever” rescue operation, officials said.

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