Cyclone Burevi: Met dept withdraws red alert for 7 Kerala districts as cyclonic storm weakens

Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 04: In a relief to Kerala, the Met department has withdrawn the red alert issued for cyclone Burevi and rains in the seven southernmost districts of the state as thedeep depression was likely to weaken further into a depression.

The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) had in a late night bulletin issued on Thursday withdrawn the red alert and issued a yellow alert for 10 districts of the state. In a bulletin released on Friday morning, the IMD said the deep depression is likely to move slowly west- southwestwards and cross Ramanathapuram and adjoining Thoothukudi districts in Tamil Nadu during the next six hours with wind speed of 50-60 gusting to 70 kmph.

"It is very likely to weaken further into a depression (wind speed 45-55 kmph gusting to 65 kmph) during next 12 hours," IMD said.

It has issued yellow alerts for the districts of Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Idukki, Thrissur, Palakkad and Malappuram. Meanwhile, the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport has rescheduled nine flights scheduled for Friday.

"The operations of the airport have been suspended till 6 PM today and all the flights were rescheduled. There is a review meeting from Delhi today to assess the situation,"CV Ravindran,Airport Director, told reporters.

The state government had declared a public holiday on Friday for five districts in the state in view of the red alert which was issued earlier.

The state has also opened over 2,000 relief camps to face any contingencies as heavy rains were expected when cyclone Burevi made landfall. A deep depression over southwest Bay of Bengal had intensified into a cyclonic storm 'Burevi' and the IMD had predicted heavy rains and wind in the seven southern districts of the state from December 3 to 5.