Heavy rains reportedly claimed three lives and caused extensive damage to properties in Kerala even as more rains were predicted in the next few days.
Two children, including a seven-month-old child, died as a compound wall crashed following a landslide causing the bedroom in which the children were asleep to collapse at Karipur in Malappuram district in the early morning hours of Tuesday. In Kollam, an elderly woman reportedly had an accidental fall into drainage thus leading to her death.
Uprooted trees and waterlogging caused by landslides disrupted the flow of vehicular traffic in several parts of the state, reports said. Most rivers in the state were said to be either brimming or overflowing. The low-lying areas are already under sheets of water.
According to Skymet Weather forecast, in the last 24 hours, the state has seen some three-digit rains as well including 216 mm in Kozhikode, 166 mm in Kannur, 136 mm in Punalur, 77 mm in Palakkad, 59 mm in Thrissur, and 51 mm in Kochi.
"Now as far as the forecast is concerned, the state of Kerala is expected to record more showers. These rainfall activities will be attributed to a combination of weather systems," Skymet said.
"A cyclonic circulation is over is EastCentral Arabian Sea. This is likely to persist and shift southward, off North Kerala and South Coastal Karnataka, for the next 4-5 days. Also, there is a cyclonic circulation on the other side of the coastline, over the Bay of Bengal, which is expected to become a low-pressure area. A shear line is joining these two features and is running across the state of Kerala," Skymet added.
The northern parts of Kerala inclusive of Wayanad, Kannur, Kozhikode, even up to Kochi will see more rains as compared to the places in the southern parts of the state. However, the entire state as a whole will be seeing rains of varied intensity in the coming days, the private weather forecaster said.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Gujarat, Mizoram, Tripura, and Jammu and Kashmir have received excess (20% to 59%) or large excess (60% or more) rainfall this monsoon season.
The Tamil Nadu weatherman (Pradeep John) said that South Kerala and Kanyakumari have been getting heavy rains in the past couple of days.