Six districts in Kerala have been put on orange alert till October 13 in view of impending heavy rain triggered by two low depressions in the Bay of Bengal, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
The IMD said these districts will witness a heavy spell of rain between Monday and Wednesday. An orange alert has been sounded in Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Idukki and Ernakulam districts. A yellow alert was issued in four other districts, Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode, Malappuram and Palakkad.
Those who live in low-lying areas, in the vicinity of rivers and hilly areas prone to landslips have been put on high alert. The alert-bound district administrations have been asked to open relief camps if the rain persists and control rooms will be opened in all district headquarters. Fishermen have also been advised not to venture into the sea due to the possibility of strong winds with a speed of 50 km per hour.
Usually the IMD sounds a red alert if the rainfall is expected to be more than 20 cm and above in 24 hours and an orange alert if it is between 11 and 20 cm. The state has already crossed the 2000 mm rainfall mark during the current south-west monsoon season. This is the fourth consecutive year the state is surpassing the usual quota of (2000 mm) of rain, IMD data showed. In 2018, the state had witnessed the flood of the century which claimed more than 500 lives.
