Kerala rain: red alert issued for several districts on Monday, Tuesday

Extremely heavy rainfall likely in seven districts as low pressure area persists over east-central Arabian Sea

Orange alerts indicating heavy to very heavy rainfall have been issued for 12 districts in Kerala for Monday.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued red alerts signalling the possibility of extremely heavy rainfall (above 20.4 cm in 24 hours) in seven districts of Kerala for today (Monday) with the northeast monsoon remaining active and a low pressure area persisting over east-central Arabian Sea.

In its 1 p.m. update, the IMD issued red alerts for Thiruvananthapuram, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Idukki, Thrissur and Palakkad districts. Orange alerts signalling isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall have been issued for Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Malappuram, Kozhikode and Wayanad. Kannur and Kasargod can expect isolated heavy rainfall, the IMD said.

Red alerts have been issued for Ernakulam, Idukki, Thrissur, Palakkad and Malappuram on Tuesday also. Orange alerts are in place for the remaining districts except Thiruvananthapuram, where a yellow alert is in place.

Heavy rainfall is likely to continue in the State till at least Friday, according to the IMD.

The low pressure area over the Arabian Sea is likely to intensify into a depression by Wednesday and move towards the Oman-Yemen coasts by Thursday. Fishermen have been warned not to venture into the sea.

Chief Secretary Tom Jose is convening a high-level meeting in Thiruvananthapuram at 3.30 p.m. to assess the situation.