Kerala Rains: Schools Shut In 4 Districts; Red Alert In Wayanad, Kannur and Kasaragod

As the India Meteorological Department has predicted heavy rain across Kerala, all schools in Kannur, Wayanad, Kasaragod, Kozhikode and Palakkad will remain shut on Friday. In Kannur, Wayand and Palakkad, a holiday is declared for all educational institutions including professional colleges. In Kozhikode and Kasaragod, colleges will open for regular classes.

- In Palakkad, a school bus overturned into a canal, but no one was injured and the children were rescued. In Kozhikode, visuals showed school children travelling in a jeep to school with the vehicle partially submerged in the waterlogged road.

- In Kannur, the heavy rains necessitated the shifting of 80 people to camps and around 71 families were moved to homes of their relatives in Kannur, the district administration said.

- Additionally, 13 houses have been completely damaged and 242 homes partially damaged in the district due to the monsoon rains.

- There were also reports from some parts of north Kerala, of walls collapsing due to the rains and causing damage to vehicles parked nearby.

- Reports of property damage due to the rains also came from Thrissur and Ernakulam districts.

- Besides these, a wild elephant died after being reportedly swept away while attempting to cross a river in Ernakulam district.

- Widespread heavy rains were also reported in the hilly areas of Wayanad district with over 29 houses partially damaged, over 1,000 people shifted to 22 camps and a rise in water levels of rivers flowing through the region.

IMD Forecast Kerala

Incidents of flooding, uprooting of trees, property damage and minor landslides were reported from many parts of the northern Kerala districts of Wayanad, Kannur and Kasaragod where the IMD issued a red alert for the day.

Apart from the red alert in the three northernmost districts of Kerala, the IMD also issued an orange alert in seven other districts of the state for the day.

It issued a yellow alert in the remaining four districts for the day.

A red alert indicates heavy to extremely heavy rain of over 20 cm in 24 hours, while an orange alert means very heavy rain (6 cm to 20 cm). A yellow alert means heavy rainfall between 6 and 11 cm.

The IMD further said that moderate rainfall and gusty winds of speeds reaching upto 50 kms per hour were likely at one or two places in Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kannur, and Kasaragod districts.

Heavy rains in the state in the past few days have caused landslides, property damage, waterlogging of roads and flooding of acres of farmland.

Meanwhile, the Indian National Center for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) warned that there was a possibility of 2.5 to 3.4 metres high waves and storm surges along the Kerala coast, especially in Kannur and Kasaragod.

(With PTI Inputs)