Monsoon likely to reach Kerala today, red alert in 4 districts

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) station in Thiruvananthapuram Friday declared a red alert in four districts of Kerala as the southwest monsoon is likely to hit the Indian peninsula Saturday. The IMD has predicted heavy rainfall in isolated places over Kerala, Lakshadweep and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, apart from the northeastern states.

An orange alert, indicating very heavy rainfall, has been issued in Kollam and Alappuzha districts for June 9 and in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Alappuzha and Ernakulam districts for June 10 by the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority. Squally weather has been predicted near Arabian Sea off Somalia coast, Lakshadweep, Maldives area, south Arabian Sea, Gulf of Mannar, northwest Bay of Bengal off West Bengal and Odisha coasts. Fishermen have been advised not to venture into the sea.

Rest of the country, especially northern and central India, will continue to reel under a severe heat wave, IMD said. Isolated areas in Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, Rajasthan, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi, Chhattisgarh, north Gujarat, Saurashtra, Kutch, Marathwada, and Telangana are set to experience heat conditions.