Orange alert in 4 districts in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram:

An orange alert was issued on Wednesday for four districts in Kerala by the Met department following formation of a deep depression in the Arabian sea.

The Orange alert, indicating heavy to very rainfall of between 6 CM to 20 CM, was for Ernakulam, Thrissur, Malappuram and Kozhikode districts for October 31, while the other 10 districts were issued a yellow alert for tomorrow.

The Met department said the depression over Maldives- Comorin and Lakshadweep area has “intensified into a deep Depression over Lakshadweep and adjoining southeast Arabian Sea and Maldives area.”

A cyclone warning and a red alert has been issued for Lakshadweep Islands, where extremely heavy rainfall has been forecast

The State Disaster Management Authority has warned the public and officials to exercise caution as squalls are likely to blow along the Kerala coast.

An official said that the cyclone, which would be named Maha, was expected to have wind speeds of 30 to 50 km per hour, going up to 75 km per hour.

It would be the fourth cyclone in the Arabian Sea after ‘Vayu’, ‘Hikka’ and ‘Kyarr’, he said.

The Met Department said the sea conditions would be “rough to very rough” over Comorin-Maldives area and along and off the Kerala and Karnataka coasts in the next 48 hours.

It has warned that the sea conditions will be very rough to high over Lakshadweep area during the next 48 hours.

Fishing operations over the Comorin-Maldives and Lakshadweep area and along and off the Kerala-Karnataka coasts have been suspended for the next 48 hours.