Heavy rains continue to lash Kerala, 'yellow alert' issued across state

Heavy rains continued to lash several parts of Kerala affecting normal life on Saturday. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has sounded a “yellow alert” warning in 13 of 14 districts of the state except in Kottayam. The yellow alert predicts heavy rainfall between 6 cm and 11 cm. Uprooting of trees, waterlogging and collapsing of compound walls were reported in many places, but no major casualties have happened anywhere in the state so far in the rains continuing for the last two days. Heavy downpours submerged hundreds of acres of paddy fields at Edathua, a tiny hamlet in the Kuttanad region in Alappuzha district. The shutters of Aruvikkara Dam near the state capital were raised up to 160 cm in view of the rising water level, district authorities here said. As the rain is expected to intensify in the coming hours, the state Disaster Management Authority urged people living in high range to maintain extra vigil and directed fishermen not to venture into the sea.