Kochi Airport closed till Sunday, flights cancelled; due to heavy monsoon rains; Kerala flood situation worsens, red alert in 4 districts

Kochi Airport flight updates today: As predicted by Skymet weather report, very heavy to extremely heavy rains have battered parts of Kerala on Thursday. Torrential Monsoon rains have triggered flooding, with hundreds of people being evacuated and shifted to relief camps.

As per the Kochi airport website, the flight operations at International Airport in Kerala have been shut till afternoon due to heavy rain the water level in Periyar river and a canal near the airport has been rising. 

While locals of the state are advised to exercise caution. Streets are inundated, halting vehicular movement. The Schools and colleges are also shut in all 14 districts of the southern state today, except state capital Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam. 

As per weather report, In a span of 21 hours from 8:30 am on Thursday, Kozhikode has recorded 123 mm of rains, Kochi 110 mm and Kannur 93 mm.

According to the current situation, the weather forecast warns that the situation remains to be grim and there is no expectation of any relief from heavy rains for another 48 hours. The heavy rain alert has been issued for districts like Kannur, Kochi, Kozhikode, Idukki and Malappuram. 

Mainly the red alert has been issued for four districts in Kerala which is Wayanad, Idukki, Malappuram and Kozhikode. 

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In wake of these incessant rains in the past 48 hours, the Pambla, Kallarkutty and Malankara dams were opened. In fact, all the 6 shutters were opened for Malankara dam were opened. Not only this, in Kothamangalam in Ernakulam district, 13 out of the 15 shutters of Boothathankettu dam have been opened.

In fact, the water level in the Idukki dam has already reached 2,321.26 feet against its capacity of 2,403 feet. Mullaperiyar is at 116 feet as compared to its capacity of 160 feet, as per report.