The Meteorological Department has issued Red Alert in 4 districts and Orange Alert in 8 on 4th August.
Thiruvananthapuram:
A red alert was declared in three districts of Kerala and an orange alert in 8 by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday as heavy rains continued in various parts of the state.
According to the IMD district’s rain forecast issued for Kerala at 10 am, Red Alert has been declared for the day in Kottayam, Idukki and Ernakulam districts and Orange Alert has been declared in rest of the districts except Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Kasaragod.
The IMD had on Tuesday issued a red alert for August 3 in 10 districts of the state.
The Meteorological Department also issued a red alert in 4 districts on Wednesday and an orange alert in 8 on 4 August.
Various weather models of the Central Meteorological Department, National Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasting, National Center for Environmental Forecasting and European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasting have predicted heavy rains in several districts of Kerala during the day.
Red alert indicates heavy to very heavy rainfall of more than 20 cms in 24 hours, while orange alert means very heavy rain ranging from 6 cms to 20 cms of rain. Yellow alert means heavy rain between 6 to 11 cms.
Meanwhile, the state government in a release said that 166 relief camps have been set up in various districts and 4,639 people have been evacuated from disaster-affected or disaster prone areas.
Earlier in the day, state revenue minister K Rajan said people should strictly avoid visiting flooded or flooded areas as part of the growing trend of “flood tourism” and warned that to divert such persons Police will be used.
Speaking to reporters in Pathanamthitta, the minister said that there is an increasing tendency of people to visit the flooded areas and enter the waters or try to catch fish and this should be avoided as it will put pressure on the relief authorities. incurs additional burden. and rescue operations.
He cited the example of an elephant stuck in the Chalakudy river for hours on Tuesday morning, reports of which led to a large number of people rushing to the place and creating trouble for the local authorities.
“Such activities will not be allowed at all in the flood-prone areas and if need be, the help of police will be taken to remove such people,” he said.
On evacuating people from disaster prone areas, he said that as per the guidelines in the Orange Book, such people have to be shifted compulsorily.
Rajan said that the State Government has taken all necessary steps like setting up of relief camps so that there is no loss of life and people can comfortably wait for the rains.
The minister also said that there is no need to worry about the flood-prone low-lying Kuttanad area in the state, but officials are monitoring the situation there.
While there was some reduction in the intensity of rain in some parts of the state early Wednesday, the water level in various major dams and reservoirs remained stable or rose marginally around 7 am. different districts.
However, the water storage level in Idukki reservoir reached 2375.52 feet and a blue alert was issued at 10 am.
According to the Kerala state emergency operation, six people died due to heavy rains – one each in Thiruvananthapuram, Kottayam and Ernakulam districts and three in Kannur district – resulting in a total of 12 rain-related people in the state from July 31 to August 2. There were casualties. Center (KSEOC) had said.
Apart from this, three people have also gone missing from different parts of the state during the day.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)