India Meteorological Department issues Orange alert for 11 Kerala districts

The IMD on Tuesday issued an Orange alert for 11 districts of Kerala indicating heavy rainfall.

After a relative respite of two days, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Tuesday issued an Orange alert for 11 districts of Kerala indicating heavy rainfall.

The weatherman has put 12 districts in the state on Orange alert on Thursday also.

The IMD sounded an Orange alert for Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Idukki, Thrissur, Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Wayanad and Kannur districts on October 20.

An Orange alert has been issued for all districts other than Kannur and Kasaragod on October 21.

A Red alert indicates heavy to extremely heavy rains of over 20 cm in 24 hours, while Orange alert denotes very heavy rains from 6 cm to 20 cm of rains. A yellow alert means heavy rainfall between 6 to 11 cm.

Kerala was ravaged by heavy downpour and subsequent landslides in the south-central districts On October 15 and 16 which resulted in the loss of 24 lives, The search and rescue operations are still going on.

Apart from that, the dams in the state are on a brim with Red alert sounded for over ten major dams in the state.

Idukki, Idamalayar, Pamba and Kakki, four major dams among the total 78 dams in the state have been opened to release the excess water.

Various district administrations have issued alerts to the people living downstream and shifted them to relief camps set up in the state.