Severe rains in Kerala has forced district administration to declare holiday for educational institutions across all districts except Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam on Friday. Red alerts have issued in four districts for Friday. Most districts received heavy rainfall on Thursday, thirty seven deaths were reported.
Authorities have set up 139 temporary relief camps for 8500 people. The district of Wayanad is badly affected, off the 139 camps 87 have been installed here, affecting close to 6000 people. 135 personnel from the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) have been deployed at Nilambur, Idukki and Wayanad and 225 personnel were deployed in Kannur, Kozhikode, Palakkad, Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha.
Heavy rains have increased water levels in Iritty, Chaliyar and Irikkur rivers. The state Disaster Management Authority have opened 9 dams so far. Kerala Health Minister K.K Shailaja has asked people residing on the banks of these rivers to relocate to safer locations and also urged people living in hilly terrains to evacuate due to possibilities of landslides.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan chaired a high-level meeting with the top government officials here to take stock of the flood-like situation in the state.
