Kerala: Monsoon picks up pace as 3 districts on orange alert on Wednesday

KOCHI: A day after the Indian meteorological department (IMD) declared the onset in Kerala , the southwest monsoon has picked up pace and become active in the state. Three districts are on orange alert on Wednesday including Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasaragod for 11.5-20 cm of very heavy rainfall. Thiruvananthapuram was also on orange alert on Tuesday.

Similarly, a yellow alert of isolated heavy rainfall was sounded in Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Idukki, Thrissur and Malappuram. IMD’s Nowcast for next three hours said that moderate rain accompanied by wind speed reaching 30-40 kmph (in gusts) is very likely to occur at one or two places in Alappuzha, Kozhikode & Kannur districts and Lakshadweep area.

The Kerala state disaster management authority has said that control rooms will start functioning in these districts and residents in areas prone to landslides and landslips will have to be on alert and will have to evacuate if notified by the district administration.

Meanwhile, the deep depression intensified into a cyclonic storm around noon today. Named Nisarga, it will recurve north-north eastwards thereafter and cross north Maharashtra and adjoining south Gujarat coast between Harihareshwar and Daman, close to Alibag (Raigad District, Maharashtra) during the afternoon of June 3 as a severe cyclonic storm with a maximum sustained wind speed of 100-110 kmph gusting to 120 kmph.

Cyclone Nisarga is a name proposed by Bangladesh and is the 65th ‘named cyclone’ in north Indian Ocean. The naming of cyclones began in September 2004.

As on Tuesday morning, Thiruvananthapuram airport recorded 13cm of rainfall .