Kerala: As rains continue to batter the Southern state of Kerala- the IMD has issued fresh alerts. Red alerts were declared in three districts while 8 districts were under the Orange zone on Wednesday.
A red alert was declared in the districts of Kottayam, Idukki and Ernakulam for the day and an Orange alert in the remaining districts barring Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Kasargod, according to an IMD district rainfall forecast issued for Kerala at 10 AM.
State Revenue Minister K Rajan has instructed people to strictly avoid going to going to areas which are inundated or flooded as part of a growing trend of “flood tourism” and warned that police would be used to remove such persons. Citing the growing trend of people visiting flooded areas, the minister said that it created an additional burden on the authorities carrying out relief and rescue operations.
Meanwhile, the Aluva Mahadeva Temple in Kochi was half-submerged on Wednesday morning as the water levels of the Periyar river continued to rise amid heavy rainfall in Kerala
So far 12 people have died in different rain-related incidents. In a press release, the Kerala state government said that 166 relief camps have been set up in various districts and 4,639 people have been relocated there from disaster-hit or disaster-prone areas.