Heavy rains bring life to a standstill in Kerala, orange alert in 11 districts

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan cautioned people to stay away from waterbodies and mountain regions.

Kerala continued to reel under heavy rains that uprooted trees, damaged houses and flooded the roads, forcing several people to relocate to relief camps. At least four people died in rain-related incidents, Malayalam news channel Manorama reported on Wednesday. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued an orange alert in 11 of the 14 districts of the state.

A 68-year-old man went missing after being carried away by an overflowing river in Kozhikode’s Thamarassery on Tuesday. (Representative Photo by Parveen Kumar/Hindustan Times)

Idukki was put under a red alert while Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram received a yellow alert. According to IMD, the inclement weather may continue till Saturday. However, the intensity of the rains is likely to subside in the coming days.

Read: Kerala: Heavy rains lash in Kerala, met dept issues red alert for three distts

In Pathanamthitta district, an autorickshaw driver died after the vehicle fell into a river swollen with rainwater. A 68-year-old man went missing after being carried away by an overflowing river in Kozhikode’s Thamarassery on Tuesday.

In Kannur, a 30-metre section of a security wall of the central jail collapsed early Wednesday. Educational institutions, especially those marked for relief camps, in various districts remained closed.

The water level in many dams breached the mark of red alert, forcing authorities to open its shutters in stages to release water downstream. In Idukki, a few shutters of the Kallarkutty and Pambla dams were opened from 12.30 AM onwards to release 300 cumecs and 500 cumecs of water, respectively.

Shutters of Karikkayam and Ullunkal dams across river Kakkad and Maniyar dam on the Kakkattar river in Pathanamthitta district were also opened Wendesday morning.

Read: Monsoon rains cover entire country, still lower than average

A high-level meeting was held on Tuesday to assess the situation. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan cautioned people to stay away from waterbodies and mountain regions.

District-level and taluk-level emergency operation centres have been asked to operate 24/7 considering the gravity of the situation.

(With inputs from PTI)