District administrations in Kerala are keeping a close watch on river water levels and landslip-prone areas with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issuing red, orange and yellow alerts for various districts till July 13.
Kottayam, Idukki, Malappuram, Kozhikode and Kannur are on orange alert on July 10, given the possibility of isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall. All other districts except Palakkad are on yellow alert for isolated heavy rainfall, according to a 10 a.m. IMD weather update.
Several districts received light to moderate rainfall on Friday night. In Thiruvananthapuram district, two shutters of the Aruvikkara dam were raised by 25 cm at 7.30 a.m. Saturday following steady rainfall in the night. The shutters will be raised further, District Collector Navjot Khosa said.
The Kerala Disaster Management Authority has urged people residing in flood and landslip-prone areas where rainfall has been particularly widespread over the past few days.
Red alerts for extremely heavy rainfall have been issued in Kannur and Kasaragod districts for Sunday.
Meanwhile, the IMD has advised fishermen not to venture out to sea till July 13 as strong winds gusting up to 60 kmph are expected along the Kerala and Karnataka coasts and the Lakshadweep region.
The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services has forecast high waves in the range of 2.5 metres to 3.3 metres along the Kerala coast from Vizhinjam to Kasaragod till Sunday night. Coastal erosion has been particularly severe along the Kerala coast in recent years.
