The State Disaster Management (SDM) in Kerala, on the 8th of June, issued a red alert and an orange alert in a few districts of Kerala from the 9th of June to the 11th of June.
According to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD,) the southwest monsoon is expected to hit Kerala with a speed of 35 kilometres per hour (kmph) on the 8th of June.
The SDM also released a monsoon preparedness and disaster relief handbook and instructed 30 departments of the SDM to follow the handbook for taking the necessary measures.
The SDM is taking precautions due to last year’s floods, which destroyed the State and took approximately 350 lives.
The Irrigation Department officials also geared up with measures. Out of the 16 dams in the State, the Irrigation Department formed an Emergency Action Plan (EAP) for 14 dams and submitted the EAP to the Central Water Commission. However, only 4 of them have been finalised as of now, while the rest of them are being scrutinised and will be finalised in two days.
K.G. Thara, the former head of the State Disaster Management, said, “It is good that the EAP and rule curve have been formed, but the community-level preparedness is what is lacking. People don’t really know what can be done at the time of a disaster.”
According to the SDM report, the red alert (very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall alert) was issued in Thrissur district for the 10th of June and Ernakulam, Malappuram, and Kozhikode districts for the 11th of June.
The orange alert (heavy to very heavy rainfall alert) was issued in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Alappuzha, Ernakulam and Thrissur from the 9th of June to the 10th of June.
The southwest monsoon will hit Kerala on the 8th of June, whereas in Andhra Pradesh, rains are expected to start from the 11th of June.
Stay tuned for further updates.
