The Cochin International Airport has suspended operations till 3 pm on Sunday following a rise in water levels in Periyar river and an adjacent canal, PTI reported. The airport was earlier shut till Friday morning. A spokesperson for the airport said the runway area was waterlogged due to the floods.
The Kerala government has evacuated 22,165 persons into 315 flood relief camps across the state as of Friday morning, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s office said. A flood warning is in place for all districts except Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam, according to Manorama Online.
At least 11 people have been killed so far in rain-related incidents. All schools were ordered to stay shut on Friday, ANI reported. University examinations have been postponed.
In the worst-affected Wayanad district, about 40 people were feared trapped under the debris of a landslide in Meppadi. The landslide covered a temple, a mosque, a few houses and vehicles.
Vijayan met officials of the State Disaster Management Authority at its control room on Thursday night to assess the disaster management activities. The state government has sought help from the Army for relief work.
Moderate to heavy rain with wind speed reaching 40 km per hour to 50 km per hour is very likely by 10 am at “one or two places” in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Idukki, Ernakulam and Thrissur districts, the India Meteorological Department said. The weather department has sounded a red alert in Idukki, Malappuram, Kozhikode and Wayanad districts, with high possibility of heavy to extremely heavy rain on Friday.
Fishermen were advised not to venture into the sea due to the possibility of strong winds with speed reaching 40 km per hour to 50 km per hour along and off the state’s coast. Waves with height of 3.2 to 3.7 metres are likely till Saturday evening along the coast from Pozhiyoor to Kasargod.
Last year, at least 483 people died in the state in rain-related incidents during the monsoon season. During the worst phase of the flooding in August 2018, there were 14,50,707 people living in relief camps.
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