Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said the Kerala government did not heed the Centre's warning regarding a possible natural calamity in Wayanad due to heavy rains. Responding to Shah's claim, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Wednesday that the IMD had only issued an orange alert in the district ahead of the landslides.
A day after Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan slammed Home Minister Amit Shah for blaming the state over the deadly July 30 landslides in Wayanad which has killed over 200 people, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Thursday that the state was issued a red alert early morning on the day the tragedy struck.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said the Kerala government did not heed the Centre's warning regarding a possible natural calamity in Wayanad due to heavy rains.
Responding to Shah's claim, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Wednesday that the IMD had only issued an orange alert in the district ahead of the landslides.
During an online press conference on Thursday, IMD chief Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said the weather department had issued an extended-range forecast for significant rainfall activity along the west coast of India on July 18 and July 25.
Mohapatra also said that Kerala was issued an orange alert, however, added that it means "be prepared" rather than "waiting for red warnings."
"The long-range forecast issued on July 25 indicated good rainfall activity along the west coast and central parts of the country from July 25 to August 1," news agency PTI quoted Mohapatra as saying.
"We issued a yellow warning on July 25, which continued until July 29, when we issued an orange warning. A red warning was issued in the early morning of July 30, indicating that very heavy rainfall, up to 20 cm, was expected," Mohapatra added.
An orange warning means "be prepared for action and one should not wait for red warnings," the IMD chief said.
The IMD chief further said that similar warnings were in place for Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Three people were killed and about 40 went missing after two separate incidents of cloudburst in Himachal Pradesh, where rains washed away many houses and roads and left two hydro power projects damaged.
In Uttarakhand, seven people, including three of a family, were killed and as many injured as heavy rains triggered many incidents of house collapse, flooding of areas and rise in water levels in several rivers of the state, officials said on Thursday
Mohapatra said it is difficult to ascertain whether Himachal Pradesh experienced a cloudburst.
"For example, Delhi also experienced heavy rainfall [on Wednesday night] concentrated in a short period. We call them extremely intense spells," he said.
"The reason behind heavy to very heavy rainfall in Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand is the shifting of the monsoon trough [from south of its normal position] to the north," he explained.
For Delhi, an orange warning was issued with a lead time of two days, Mohapatra said.