Incessant heavy rain lashed many parts of south Kerala on Saturday triggering minor landslides and severe water-logging and disrupting rail traffic between Thiruvananthapuram and Kanyakumari at three places.
In Neyyattinkara (Thiruvananthapuram district) a portion of a bridge on the National Highway 66 caved in disrupting traffic and in Vizinjam many shops and houses were submerged after the Gangayar stream overflowed.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has sounded a red alert in Thiruvananthapuram district and an orange alert in six other districts. It also said rainfall will continue for three more days and strong winds with a speed of 50 km per hour is likely to prevail over the Kerala coast. A red alert is sounded if rainfall is over 20 cm in 24 hours, orange alert for 11 cm to 20 cm and yellow alert means rainfall lies between 6 to 11 cm.
Thiruvananthapuram district collector Navjot Khosa has banned travelling in hilly areas and asked people to avoid travel if it is not urgent. No casualty was reported so far though many houses and agricultural fields were ravaged by gushing water. Some areas in the district received 30 cm of rain in the last 24 hours.
Many dams in southern Kerala are filled to the brim and people living on the banks of water bodies have been asked to keep utmost vigil by the district administration. Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who is attending the party politburo meet in Delhi, took to Facebook asking people to stay alert.
{{/usCountry}}Many dams in southern Kerala are filled to the brim and people living on the banks of water bodies have been asked to keep utmost vigil by the district administration. Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who is attending the party politburo meet in Delhi, took to Facebook asking people to stay alert.
{{/usCountry}}