Heavy rains to lash Kerala for next four days; alert sounded in several districts
Heavy rains are expected in Kerala from Sunday till August 4 according to the Meteorological Department which has issued an orange alert in several districts in the week ahead.
For Sunday, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued yellow alerts in 10 out of the 14 districts in the state with no warnings in the remaining four.
A warning alert for fishing is also in place till August 3. Meanwhile, Kottayam and Idukki districts are under an orange alert for heavy rain on Monday.
The IMD said Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Idukki and Thrissur districts will receive heavy to very heavy rain on Tuesday.
Rain deficit
Although the state witnessed heavy rain this month, there is still a net 26 per cent deficit since the southwest monsoon was weak in June.
Despite the rain deficit, the dams have more than 60 per cent storage and are expected to be full when the southwest monsoon withdraws by September 30.
A red alert indicates heavy to extremely heavy rains of over 20 cm in 24 hours, while orange alert means very heavy rains from 6 cm to 20 cm of rain. A yellow alert means heavy rainfall between 6 to 11 cm.
“Squally weather with wind speed reaching 40-50 Kmph is likely to prevail over Kerala coast and adjoining southeast Arabian sea. Fishermen are advised not to venture into the above sea areas from July 30 to August 3,” reads the IMD alert.
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