Cyclone Burevi: Red alert issued for south Kerala

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Met department on Thursday issued a red alert for south Kerala districts in the wake of cyclonic storm Burevi. The cyclonic storm, currently centered over Sri Lanka, is moving at a speed of 11kmph. It lay centered at 0530 hrs IST over Sri Lanka about 40km east of Mannar, 120km east-southeast of Pamban and 320km east-northeast of Kanniyakumari.
It is very likely to move west-northwestwards and emerge into Gulf of Mannar near Mannar coast during the next 3 hours.
The cyclonic storm with wind speed of 70-80 gusting to 90 kmph would be centered very close to Pamban around noon of December 3. It would then move west-southwestwards across Pamban area by afternoon and cross south Tamil Nadu coast between Pamban and Kanyakumari during December 3 night and December 4 early morning as a cyclonic storm with wind speed of 70-80 gusting to 90kmph.
Its impact on coastal districts of south Tamil Nadu is very likely to commence from forenoon today, initially over Ramanathapuram. By tomorrow afternoon, the cyclone will reduce to a deep depression and enter Kerala with wind speeds at 70-80 kmph.
The Kerala state disaster management authority on Wednesday issued instructions to district administrations to start evacuating the people from the areas coming in the cyclonic storm track.
A red alert for extremely heavy rains was already issued a couple of days ago for Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha on December 3. Squally wind speed reaching 45-55 kmph gusting to 65 kmph is very likely over south Kerala coast (Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Alappuzha districts). It will gradually increase to 70-80 kmph gusting to 90 kmph from December 3 noon.
The state government began evacuation of people living in coastal and hilly ranges, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has been deployed in seven districts including Kottayam, Idukki and Ernakula. 24/7 control rooms have been opened and people have been asked to stay away from open areas in these places for the next two days.
Almost 78 panchayats in the capital district Thiruvananthapuram and 73 local bodies in Kollam will face the biggest impact on the landfall in Pamban and Kanyakumari. Thiruvananthapuram district administration has set up as many as 180 shelter camps in the district with a total capacity of 11,050. They started shifting people from high risk areas to the shelter camps from Wednesday evening onwards with the help of NDRF. A 24-hour control room has been opened in the wake of the cyclone.
People can reach the district administration in case of emergency situations by calling the control room number 1077. All primary health centres and community health centres in the district will be functioning round the clock for the next 48 hours. The district disaster management authority officials have also identified as many as 48 villages in the district that are at high risk during the passing of cyclone Burevi.