Heavy rains uproot trees, waterlog roads in several parts of Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram | Overnight heavy rains and strong winds across Kerala led to uprooting of trees, dislodging of electricity poles and waterlogging of roads in several parts of the state on Saturday.

As rains continued in various parts of Kerala, disrupting the normal way of life, state Revenue Minister K Rajan said that precipitation would be more in districts north of Kozhikode, Idukki and Pathanamthitta.

The minister further said that the strong winds that lashed many parts of the state in the intervening night of Friday-Saturday appeared to be in the nature of monsoon winds.

"It also indicates that the monsoons might arrive in the state earlier than expected," he told a TV channel.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) had on Friday said that the monsoons will arrive in the state in two days.

The minister also said that some places might receive rains in large amounts in a short period of time without any warning, leading to flash floods and landslides.

He said that the authorities were prepared to handle all such situations and the monsoons.

Rajan said that instructions have been issued to all District Collectors with regard to monsoon preparedness and that he will hold an online meeting with them during the day to assess the situation in each of their districts.

He also advised the general public to take precautions in view of the heavy rains and to travel only to safe locations.

The minister also advised against spreading of unverified and unofficial information about the rains on social media.

The IMD had a day ago issued a red alert in two districts -- Kannur and Kasaragod -- and an orange alert in nine others for Saturday.

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