Heavy rains likely to lash Kerala over next few days;Red alert issued for Idukki

Heavy rains and strong winds are expected to lash parts of Kerala in the coming days under the influence of a low pressure area off south Andaman Sea and adjoining Bay of Bengal, with IMD issuing a red alert for Idukki district on Wednesday and fishermen restrained from putting out to sea from the midnight of November 30.

The IMD on Sunday issued an Orange alert for Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Pathanamthitta districts on December 2 anda yellow alert for Alappuzha, Kottayam and Ernakulam districts on the same day.

Red alert indicates heavy to very heavy rainfall of over 20 cm in 24 hours,an Orange alert (6 cm to 20 cm) andyellow alert (6-11 cm).

Heavy rains have been forecastas a low pressure area lies over South Andaman and adjoining areas of Southeast Bay ofBengal and Equatorial Indian ocean, an IMD release said.

It is very likely to concentrate into a Depression during the next 36 hours and likely to intensify further thereafter, the IMD said.

The formation was likely to move west-northwestwards and reach south Tamil Nadu coast on December 2, IMD said adding it was "monitoring the situation".

With the possibility of the sea becoming rough from December 1, fishermen have been restrained from putting out to sea from Monday.