Wayanad landslide: IMD chief says regular rainfall warnings issued for Kerala

IMD (India Meteorological Department) chief Mrutyunjay Mohapatra on Thursday said the IMD issued regular forecasts for significant rainfall activity along the west coast of India and a red alert for Kerala early on the morning of 30 July, the day Wayanad district was hit by two deadly landslides that have so far killed more than 200 people.

On Wednesday, Union home minister Amit Shah had said the Kerala government did not heed the Centre's advance warnings regarding a possible natural calamity in Wayanad owing to heavy rains.

Heavy rain-induced landslides hit multiple locations in Wayanad district on Tuesday morning.

Responding to Shah's claim, Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan had said on Wednesday that the IMD had only issued an orange alert in the district ahead of the landslides, and that it received over 572 mm of rainfall, significantly higher than what was predicted by the IMD.

During an online press conference, the IMD chief said the weather department had issued an extended range forecast for significant rainfall activity along the west coast of India on 18 and 25 July.

"The long-range forecast issued on 25 July indicated good rainfall activity along the west coast and central parts of the country from 25 July to 1 August. We issued a yellow warning on 25 July, which continued until 29 July, when we issued an orange warning. A red warning was issued in the early morning of 30 July, indicating that very heavy rainfall, up to 20 cm, was expected," Mohapatra said.

Kerala had been witnessing continuous rainfall activity and "accumulation of rainfall" is also an important factor behind landslides, he said. The IMD chief added that an orange warning means "be prepared for action and one should not wait for red warnings". Similar warnings were in place for Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, he said.

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.

Mohapatra, however, 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.

Former secretary of the Union earth sciences ministry Madhavan Rajeevan also said heavy rainfall over Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Delhi was well predicted by models. "This spell will extend at least for one more day. During the next 8-10 days, north India will get more rainfall. But rains over the peninsula and west coast may reduce," he said.