Cyclone Burevi live updates: IMD issues heavy rain alert for four Kerala districts today

NDRF teams in Thiruvananthapuram

The system is under continuous surveillance and the state governments concerned are being informed regularly, says IMD.

Cyclone warning for south Tamil Nadu and south Kerala coasts

Met department issues Orange alert for south Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha. It had issued Yellow alert yesterday.

After a high-level meeting of ministers and heads of departments, the chief minister said the message had been disseminated to the fishermen, who had set out for deep sea fishing, to return to the shore immediately. Neighbouring states had been requested to permit TN fishermen berth at their shore. The meteorology department's advisory to fishermen was not to venture into the sea.

Chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Tuesday urged the people in the southern districts, where there is a warning of heavy rains and strong winds between December 1 and 4, to stay indoors. Nine teams of the national disaster response force are stationed in Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli, Tuticorin and Madurai districts.

People living in landslide-prone areas will be shifted to safer places and relief camps will be set up as per Covid protocol.

In Kottayam, the district disaster management authority directed the residents of Meenachil and Kanjirappally taluks to exercise caution as heavy rains are likely in the hillside areas in Idukki and Pathanamthitta areas.

Skymet Weather said the storm is likely to disrupt communication and connectivity along with causing flooding and inundation. Meanwhile, district administrations continue high alert.

The storm will cross over to Kerala the same evening and re-emerge in the Arabian Sea later. Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Alappuzha, Punalur, Kochi, Thrissur, Munnar, and Alappuzha are likely to become the soft targets to face the storm fury on December 4, it said.

Cyclone Burevi is likely to make two landfalls, first over Sri Lanka on December 2 evening/night and second near Tuticorin (Tamil Nadu) in the wee hours of December 4.

Skymet Weather said Cyclone Burevi is the fifth such system this year to have formed in the Indian seas and third in the Bay of Bengal. Cyclone Burevi could be followed by another cyclone threatening Tamil Nadu on December 7 or later.

High waves in the range of 2.0-3.5 meters are forecast from December 2 afternoon to midnight of December 4 along the coast of Kerala from Vizhinjam to Kasaragod. Surface current speeds are expected to vary between 60 -108 cm/sec. Prevailing rough to very rough sea condition will continue along & off south Tamil Nadu-Kerala coasts from December 2-4.

Thunderstorms accompanied with lightning are very likely to occur at one or two places in Kerala from December 2-5.

A red alert of extremely heavy rainfall (over 20cm) has been sounded for December 4 for Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha and an orange alert has been issued for December 3 in Kottayam, Ernakulam and Idukki. A yellow alert has been issued for Thrissur and Palakkad.

An orange alert for 11-20cm (very heavy rainfall) has been sounded for Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta and Idukki districts on Wednesday while five districts, including Alappuzha, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Thrissur and Palakkad, will get isolated heavy rains of 7-11cm. Rest of Kerala will also get light rains.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a cyclone alert for south Kerala coast from Wednesday.

Cyclonic storm Burevi over southwest Bay of Bengal about 240km east-southeast of Trincomalee (Sri Lanka), 470km east-southeast of Pamban (India) and 650km nearly east-northeast of Kanyakumari (India) at 5.30am: Met department

“The system is under continuous surveillance and the state governments concerned are being informed regularly,” said IMD in a statement on Tuesday, predicting very heavy to extremely heavy rainfalls in south Tamil Nadu and south Kerala on Thursday.

It may then move westward towards south Tamil Nadu coast between Kanyakumari and Pamban around early Friday morning, bringing heavy to very heavy rainfall in the entire region in three days during December 2-4.