Rains continue to lash Kerala; IMD issues orange alert

Thiruvananthapuram: As rains continued to lash parts of Kerala, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Friday issued an orange alert in two districts of the state for the day.

The IMD issued the orange alert in Malappuram and Wayanad districts of the state. Besides that, it issued a yellow alert in eight other districts of the state for the day. The IMD on Thursday had predicted very heavy rainfall in the state between May 18 and 20 due to the likely prevalence of strong westerly and south westerly winds in the region. It had issued an orange alert for Palakkad and Malappuram for May 18, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha and Idukki for May 19 and in seven districts of the state for May 20.

The IMD issued an orange alert on Friday in seven districts of the state for May 21 also. The IMD further said that while an orange alert has been issued in seven districts of the state on May 20 and 21, some of them were likely to receive rains similar to that of a red alert. 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 cm and 11 cm. The IMD had also predicted thunderstorms with lightning and gusty winds from Friday till May 20 in some places in Kerala.