Red alert in 7 districts of Kerala as heavy rains lash the state

As heavy rains continued to lash Kerala, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday issued a red alert in 7 districts of the state for the day.IMD issued red alerts for Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Ernakulam and Idukki districts.In view of the development, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has called a meeting of the District Collectors to assess rain damage and coordinate relief work, a release issued by the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) said.

The CM has asked people to be very careful, not go into rivers, water bodies, streams etc. to bathe, wash clothes or bathe animals, avoid night travel as much as possible and be ready to strictly follow the warnings given by the Disaster Management Authority, the release said. The police, fire brigade and other government agencies have been instructed to be alert, fishermen have been advised not to go into the sea under any circumstances and people living in areas prone to landslides have been asked to evacuate and move to relief camps, it said.Besides the red alerts, the IMD also issued orange alerts in Thrissur and Malappuram districts and yellow alerts in the remaining districts of the state for the day.The IMD also issued red alert for the above 7 districts for August 2 as well as orange alert for 4 districts on that day.Red alert has been issued in 11 districts and Orange for 2 districts of the state for August 3 according to an IMD district rainfall forecast issued for Kerala at 1 PM on Monday. For August 4, it has issued a red alert for 9 districts and Orange for 3 districts of the state.