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Kerala on high alert as intense rain forecast across State
Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan puts 14 districts on red/orange alert given IMD’s forecast that Kerala will likely receive widespread rains in the next 72 hours
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan says a cyclonic circulation above southern Sri Lanka and a low-pressure trough extending from Cape Comorin to Rayalaseema have catalysed the monsoon over Kerala.
| Photo Credit: Nirmal Harindran
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday (August 14, 2024) put 14 districts in the State on red/orange alert given the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) forecast that Kerala will likely receive widespread rains, including isolated heavy showers, in the next 72 hours.
Mr. Vijayan said a cyclonic circulation above southern Sri Lanka and a low-pressure trough extending from Cape Comorin to Rayalaseema had catalysed the monsoon over Kerala.
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The IMD had sounded an orange/yellow alert for select districts. However, Mr. Vijayan said the State could not take any chances after the Wayanad disaster.
He said heavy rains over 48 hours had caused the catastrophic landslides that buried three settlements in Vythiri taluk in Wayanad early on July 30.
Mr. Vijayan said the government could ill-afford to discount the significant risk posed to human life and property by climate change-spurred intense rain spurts over a relatively small locality in a relatively short span of time.
The problem of landslides in Kerala
In Wayanad, heavy rains quickly waterlogged the hill looming over the villages 6.5 km below, causing it to tumble downhill and swamp the sleeping residents.
Puthumala residents relocated
Mr. Vijayan urged district administrations to monitor high ranges and hillsides closely. He said the district administration in Wayanad had relocated residents of Puthumala, a landslide-prone zone in Meppadi panchayat, to a government relief camp in a nearby school as a precaution.
Mr. Vijayan said a LIDAR survey team from National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK) Surathkal will create a three-dimensional model of the disaster zone for future climate mitigation planning. He said NITK veteran Sreevalsan Kolathiyar will lead the team.
Aerial survey drones
Mr. Vijayan said the team will deploy aerial survey drones to prepare a granular map of the disaster zone. The team will map even objects, including trees, vegetation and boulders, up to 50 cm in height.
Simultaneously, another team led by expert geologist John Mathai will investigate the natural disaster. Mr. Vijayan said Mr. Mathai would survey Puncharimattam in Wayanad to determine the origin of the hill slippage. Mr. Mathai’s team will collect soil samples and study the post-disaster geological layout.
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Mr. Vijayan said the government would rely on the expert teams’ reports to calibrate future land assignments and land use patterns in the disaster zone. The findings would also guide the government in reinforcing forested gradients near population centres.
Mr. Vijayan stressed the need to modernise weather sensing and modelling systems to produce accurate, location-specific forecasts with a smaller margin of error, which would save lives and property.
He also tasked the Institute for Climate Change Studies (ICCS) in Kottayam with creating Kerala-specific weather forecasting models and allocated funds for research.
Mr. Vijayan also stressed the need to develop natural disaster early warning systems, including seismic activity sensing alarms, in landslide-prone areas in Kerala.
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