The State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) has issued a red alert for eight districts in Kerala following an extremely heavy rainfall warning by the weather office.
The red alert will be in place till August 14 for Wayanad district and August 13 for Idukki, while for Alappuzha, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Palakkad, Malappuram, and Kozhikode it will be till Saturday. An advisory issued by the SDMA directed the public to avoid travel through hilly areas from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. in view of the possibility of landslips.
Citizens have been advised not to venture into the sea as well as rivers, streams and other waterbodies prone to flash floods. They have also been directed not to park vehicles under trees or near waterfalls on ghat roads.
The advisory also calls on citizens to be ready for evacuation on the direction of officials and avoid visiting places where floods and landslips have occurred.
Meanwhile, the midday weather inference issued by the India Met Department (IMD) on Friday indicated that conditions in the Bay of Bengal were becoming favourable to drive the southwest monsoon into an aggressive phase. The cyclonic circulation over North Odisha and neighbourhood and another similar system over West Central Bay of Bengal and adjoining south coastal Andhra Pradesh were likely to be joined by a fresh low pressure area brewing over the northwest Bay of Bengal and neighbourhood around August 13. The cyclonic circulation over the Southeast Arabian sea and adjoining Lakshadweep area, however, has become less marked.
The Met Centre here has warned of strong winds from the westerly direction, speed occasionally reaching 25-35 kmph gusting up to 55 kmph, were likely along and off the Kerala and Karnataka coasts and Lakshadweep areas. Fishermen have be advised to venture out to sea till Saturday evening.
The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad, has also issued a tidal flooding alert for Kerala from August 11 to 15, "The perigean spring tides during the period could lead to flooding all along the Kerala coast, worsening the situation in low-lying areas such as Kuttanad and preventing the discharge of floodwaters released from reservoirs and swollen rivers into the sea. This calls for heightened caution,” T.M. Balakrishnan Nair, INCOIS head, told The Hindu .
