A man returns after buying food items as it rains in Kochi, Kerala.
A day after monsoon arrived in Kerala, 4 districts in the state are on alert for heavy rainfall in the coming days. Kerala districts including Kozhikode, Malapuuram, Kannur and Kasaragod may witness heavy to very heavy rainfall, according to the India Meteorological Department.
The weatherman has issued an orange alert for Kozhikode and yellow alert for 7 other districts including Malapuuram, Kannur, Kasaragod, Kollam, Ernakulam, Idukki and Thrissur.
While Kerala bracing for more rains as monsoon is active over the southern state, fishing activities have been temporarily suspended due to the formation of the cyclonic storm 'Nisarga' over the Arabian sea that may hit Maharashtra and Gujarat in the coming days.
"Nisarga" currently lies as a depression 490 km from Mumbai, 280 km from Goa's capital city and 710 km from Surat district in Gujarat. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said that the depression intensified into a deep depression at 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday.
It is now slated to further turn into a cyclonic storm in 12 hours and then into a severe cyclonic storm in subsequent 12 hours. Low pressure, depression and deep depression are the first three levels used by the IMD to classify cyclones based on their intensity.
Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) Monday reiterated that the country would receive normal monsoon in June-September and the conditions were favourable for good monsoon.
Addressing the media, Madhavan Nair Rajeevan, Secretary in the Ministry of Earth Sciences, said, "The good news is that we will have a normal monsoon. As per the statistical model forecast, the quantitative monsoon will be 102 per cent of the long period average (LPA). The conditions are becoming favourable for good monsoon."
The IMD issues operational forecast for the south-west monsoon season in two stages --first in April and then in June.
(With inputs from IANS)
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