Thiruvananthapuram/ Bangalore : Heavy rains accompanied with strong winds and thunderstorms will lash several parts of Kerala and Karnataka in the next 24 hours. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a red alert for Kannaur and Kasaragod districts for Tuesday. An orange alert has been declared in Kozhikode, Malappuram and Wayanad districts, and yellow alert for Palakkad, Thrissur, Ernakulam, and Idukki districts.
“Strong winds from Westerly direction speed reaching 40-50 kmph likely along and off Kerala and Karnataka coasts, South Tamil Nadu and over Lakshadweep area,” said the IMD, adding that strong winds from southwesterly direction with speed reaching 40-50 kmph is likely to prevail over Central and Southwest Arabian Sea.
Warning about the Karnataka coast, Kerala coast and Lakshadweep Area, the weather deparment added, “Sea condition will be rough to very rough.” Fishermen have been advised not to venture into the sea for the next few days.
The rough weather conditions will prevail till Friday, July 26. A holiday has been declared in schools and educational institutes in Kannur, Kasargod and Malappuram districts.
The weather body also predicted rainfall in areas such as Assam, Meghalaya, Konkan, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal. “Heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places over Bihar, East Rajasthan, East Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Maharashtra, Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Yanam, Rayalaseema, North Interior Karnataka and Lakshadweep,” said the IMD.
“Thunderstorm accompanied with lightning is very likely at isolated places over north Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim,” IMD stated in its all-India weather bulletin.
Prasanta Patnaik