On Thursday, several places in Kerala were looking at a potential repeat of the devastating 2018 floods, with rivers overflowing and a series of landslides. However, the intensity of rainfall has reduced on Friday and Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has removed red alerts from all districts. Nevertheless, parts of Central Kerala, especially in low-lying Kuttanad region, are under water.
The severity of Thursday’s situation was highlighted by the large-scale evacuation of people living on the banks of the Chalakudy river in the Thrissur district as the weather predictions suggested a large amount of water will have to be released from the Peringalkuthu reservoir, which would receive excess inflow from dams that are further upstream in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. However, the worst did not come to pass as rainfall subsided, and the river has not risen in a way that the district administration had feared.
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