Pinarayi denies Shah’s claim that Kerala didn’t heed Centre’s warning

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday termed as “baseless” Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s claim that the state government did not heed the Centre’s warning regarding a possible natural calamity in Wayanad due to heavy rains.

Vijayan said that the India Meteorological Department (IMD) had only issued an orange alert in the district ahead of the landslides.

However, the district received over 572 millimeters of rainfall, which was extremely higher than what was predicted by the IMD.

“In the disaster areas, an orange alert was in place, with the IMD warning that rainfall would be between 115 and 204 mm. However, the actual rainfall was much higher. The area received 200 mm of rain in the first 24 hours and 372 mm in the next 24 hours, totaling 572 mm in 48 hours,” he said at a press conference here.

“This far exceeded the initial warning. The area had never been on red alert before the disaster. However, after the incident, a red alert was issued at six o’clock in the morning (of July 30) after the landslides occurred,” Vijayan added.