As heavy rains continued to batter Kerala under the influence of the deep depression over the Arabian Sea, a red alert has been sounded in five districts of the state on Saturday.
The red alert was issued in five Northern districts- Malappuram, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kannur and Kasaragod citing heavy rainfall, sources said.
Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Idukki and Thrissur have been put on orange alert. Yellow alert was sounded in Thiruvananthapuram and Palakkad.
Meanwhile, nine teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were deployed in Kollam, Alappuzha, Idukki, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Wayanad and Pathanamthitta districts.
As a precautionary measure, for any emergency situation, one team of the Army’s Defence Service Corps (DSC) is on standby in Kasaragod, two in Kannur and two in Thiruvananthapuram.
An emergency task force of the engineering wing of the Army is also stationed in Bengaluru. Two helicopters of the Indian Air Force (IAF) will be on standby for emergencies.
Sources said about 300 people were accommodated in 17 relief camps due to heavy rains in the state.
