Red alert issued in Kottayam & 4 other Kerala districts amid heavy rain

Kottayam: As many as five districts in Kerala are on red alert as heavy rainfall lashed the state on Saturday. An orange alert has been issued in at least seven other districts, too.

Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan called an emergency meeting in the evening to take stock of the situation while the state authorities have banned night-time movement in hilly areas of the state.

The Indian Meterological Department has forecast extremely heavy rainfall in five districts of Kerala, including Pathanamthitta, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Idukki, and Thrissur. 

While a red alert has been issued in these districts, seven others, including Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Alapuzha, Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode and Wayanad have been placed on orange alert, which signals “heavy to very heavy rainfall.”