Editor's Pick: Heavy floods look likely in Kerala

After experiencing poor rainfall in June and July, Kerala is now staring at a flood situation with high-intensity rains, overflowing rivers and full reservoir levels. The total number of deaths due to rains has touched 22. In central Kerala, low-lying areas have been already been inundated, forcing the government to evacuate people. In central Travancore, incessant rains have triggered landslides. In addition, a low-pressure system is expected to form over the Bay of Bengal by Sunday. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan appealed to people, especially in the Thrissur and Ernakulam districts, to move to camps, and advised fisherfolk not to venture into the sea. Nine teams of the National Disaster Response Force have been deployed in various parts. The State has sought two teams each from the National Disaster Management Authority and the Defence Security Corps and one column of the Army and the Navy. A holiday has been declared in educational institutions, including in professional colleges, in many districts. The IMD has sounded an orange alert in five districts: Idukki, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kannur and Kasaragod. The number of severe weather incidences has been on a steady rise in Kerala and there will be more such events in the future, says climate scientist P.S. Biju in this interview. In 2018, The Hindu editorial pointed out that as per a study by researchers from the University of Cambridge, between 1954 and 2003, Kerala had become increasingly drier in summer but with an emerging frequency of destructive flash floods in rare events. In addition to extreme weather events, Madhav Gadgil, who led the Western Ghats Expert Ecology Panel, has pointed out that accumulation of aerosol particles (from manmade sand and automobile exhaust) in the air and improper management of water resources have been the reasons for floods in recent years. Gadgil has also pointed out elsewhere that illegal forest land acquisition is contributing to the problem. A combination of man-made and natural changes seems to have led to this precarious situation in Kerala. While the State government has quickly swung into action and is evacuating people from low-lying areas, there are concerns in Kerala year after year about floods. This worrying trend makes this the top pick of the day. Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Head over to our newsletter subscription page to sign up for Editor‘s Pick and more. Click here The Hindu’s Editorials Sop or welfare debate: On freebies Dialling right: On 5G spectrum sale The Hindu’s Daily Quiz Provisional trade data for the month of July provided by the Ministry of Commerce showed what percentage of increase in the country’s imports? 36% 44% 50% 28% To find out the answer and play the full quiz, click here [logo] Editor's Pick 05 AUGUST 2022 [The Hindu logo] In the Editor's Pick newsletter, The Hindu explains why a story was important enough to be carried on the front page of today's edition of our newspaper. [Arrow]( [Open in browser]( [Mail icon]( [More newsletters]( Heavy floods look likely in Kerala After experiencing poor rainfall in June and July, Kerala is now [staring at a flood situation]( with high-intensity rains, overflowing rivers and full reservoir levels. The total number of deaths due to rains has touched 22. In central Kerala, low-lying areas have been already been inundated, forcing the government to evacuate people. In central Travancore, incessant rains have triggered landslides. In addition, a low-pressure system is expected to form over the Bay of Bengal by Sunday. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan appealed to people, especially in the Thrissur and Ernakulam districts, to move to camps, and advised fisherfolk not to venture into the sea. Nine teams of the National Disaster Response Force have been deployed in various parts. The State has sought two teams each from the National Disaster Management Authority and the Defence Security Corps and one column of the Army and the Navy. A holiday has been declared in educational institutions, including in professional colleges, in many districts. The IMD has sounded an orange alert in five districts: Idukki, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kannur and Kasaragod.  The number of severe weather incidences has been on a steady rise in Kerala and there [will be more such events]( in the future, says climate scientist P.S. Biju in this interview. In 2018, [The Hindu]( editorial pointed out]( as per a study by researchers from the University of Cambridge, between 1954 and 2003, Kerala had become increasingly drier in summer but with an emerging frequency of destructive flash floods in rare events. In addition to extreme weather events, Madhav Gadgil, who led the Western Ghats Expert Ecology Panel, [has pointed out]( that accumulation of aerosol particles (from manmade sand and automobile exhaust) in the air and improper management of water resources have been the reasons for floods in recent years. Gadgil has also pointed out elsewhere that illegal forest land acquisition is contributing to the problem. A combination of man-made and natural changes seems to have led to this precarious situation in Kerala. While the State government has quickly swung into action and is evacuating people from low-lying areas, there are concerns in Kerala year after year about floods. This worrying trend makes this the top pick of the day. Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Head over to our newsletter subscription page to sign up for Editor‘s Pick and more.  [Click here]( The Hindu’s Editorials [Arrow][Sop or welfare debate: On freebies]( [Arrow][Dialling right: On 5G spectrum sale]( The Hindu’s Daily Quiz Provisional trade data for the month of July provided by the Ministry of Commerce showed what percentage of increase in the country’s imports? - 36% - 44% - 50% - 28% To find out the answer and play the full quiz, [click here]( Today’s Best Reads [[Independence Day: police to install 1,000 CCTV cameras around Red Fort] Independence Day: police to install 1,000 CCTV cameras around Red Fort]( [[Murali Sreeshankar wins silver in long jump at Commonwealth Games 2022] Murali Sreeshankar wins silver in long jump at Commonwealth Games 2022]( [[U.S. declares health emergency over monkeypox outbreak] U.S. declares health emergency over monkeypox outbreak]( [[Sudhir wins gold in para powerlifting men's heavyweight event at Commonwealth Games] Sudhir wins gold in para powerlifting men's heavyweight event at Commonwealth Games]( Copyright @ 2022, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. 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