Heavy Rainfall Batters Kerala As Southwest Monsoon Advances, IMD Issues Orange Alert To 7 Districts

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has reported that conditions are favorable for the monsoon to progress over more regions in the next two days.

Amid rainy weather, fishing boats are anchored at Poonthura coast in Thiruvananthapuram. ( Image Source :PTI )

Heavy rainfall continues to lash several parts of Kerala, as the Southwest Monsoon advances further into parts of the Maldives, Comorin area, South Bay of Bengal, and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has reported that conditions are favorable for the monsoon to progress over more regions in the next two days.

The IMD detailed the weather developments, noting, "Yesterday’s Low Pressure Area over Southeast Arabian Sea off Kerala coast with the associated cyclonic circulation extending up to 7.6 km above mean sea level has become less marked. Today, a cyclonic circulation lies over south Kerala & neighborhood and extends up to 5.8 km above mean sea level."

Given the intense rainfall, the IMD has issued an orange alert, predicting heavy to very heavy rainfall (7cm to 20cm in 24 hours) at isolated places in the districts of Kannur, Kozhikode, Ernakulam, Idukki, Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta, and Kottayam for today. Additionally, a yellow warning for heavy rainfall (7-11cm in 24 hours) has been issued for Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Kasaragod, Malappuram, Wayanad, Thrissur & Palakkad for Friday.

Kerala Health Minister Veena George said, "The weather forecast says that we can expect the Monsoon by 28th May, but we are already experiencing heavy rainfall in almost all the districts."

Expressing concern about the potential outbreak of contagious diseases due to the rainfall, Veena George said, "The health department is concerned about the contagious diseases, especially we had jaundice outbreak in some districts like Ernakulam, Mallapuram, Thrissur, Pathanamthitta and also we had cases of dengue fever."

"We are having heavy rainfall, we are more vigilant about lepto (leptospirosis) cases because we had sudden heavy rains in many areas and streets get flooded in no time. We have constituted state rapid response team and state control room has started functioning," she said .