Thiruvananthapuram: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) sounded an orange alert in 12 districts for Thursday indicating a decrease in the intensity of the rains hitting the southern state. District collectors of the four districts declared a holiday for all educational institutions including professional colleges in view of the incessant rains.
On Wednesday, IMD at 12 PM withdrew the Red alert from the state and issued Orange alert for the day in all the districts barring Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Kasaragod where Yellow alerts have been issued. The Red alert issued in the state for August 4 was withdrawn while Orange alert was issued in 12 districts for Thursday, according to an IMD district rainfall forecast issued for Kerala at 10 AM.
All educational institutions will remain shut in Kottayam, Alappuzha and Idukki on Thursday. Pathanamthitta district collector also declared a holiday for all educational institutions in Thiruvalla taluk on Thursday. Apart from Thiruvalla taluk, all educational institutions where relief camps are opened will remain shut in the district. In Ernakulam district, the district collector extended the holiday for all educational institutions in Kothamangalam and Muvattupuzha taluks. Educational institutions which converted as relief camps to house the evacuated people will also remain closed for the students.
During the day, the state government, in a release, said that water in six dams- Ponmudi, Lower Periyar, Kallarkutty, Erattayar and Kundala in Idukki and Moozhiyar in Pathanamthitta districts — in the state have reached red alert storage levels. The water in Idukki and Peringalkuthu dams have reached blue and yellow storage alert levels, respectively, it further said.
Two deaths, of a student and a 75-year-old man, were reported from Kottayam district during the day. According to officials, the student drowned while bathing in a stream with his friends and the man had gone missing when he went to take a bath in a nearby waterbody and his body was found later. Meanwhile, the bodies of two fishermen, who went missing off the coast of Thrissur near Chetua harbour on Tuesday, were found two nautical miles away in the sea by the Indian Coast Guard during its search operations.
As rains continued in Kerala, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan directed that arrangements be made for the safety of tourists affected or stranded due to the heavy rainfall in various parts of the state. The directive by the Chief Minister was given in a meeting of District Collectors convened by him where he also said there was no need to evacuate people in tourism centres and resorts if there was no dangerous situation there.
Various weather models of the Central Meteorological Department, National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting, National Centers for Environmental Prediction and European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, have predicted heavy rainfall in several districts of Kerala during the day.
Orange alert in districts
04-08-2022: Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Idukki, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kannur, Kasaragod
Yellow alert in districts
04-08-2022: Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam
05-08-2022: Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Idukki, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kannur, Kasargod
06-08-2022: Kozhikode, Kannur, Kasargod
07-08-2022: Kozhikode, Kannur, Kasargod
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