Kerala’s Orange Alert Opens a Longer Rain Window

The India Meteorological Department placed four Kerala districts under an orange alert on Thursday, October 22, as thunderstorms fed by a Bay of Bengal low kept lashing the ghats. Ernakulam, Thrissur, Malappuram and Kozhikode face intense thunderstorms, lightning and gusty winds for 24 hours, and the other ten districts sit on a yellow alert.

A second low-pressure area is likely to form over the southeast and adjoining east-central Bay of Bengal around October 23. The weather office has already flagged another very heavy spell over Kerala on October 24 and 25, after a yellow, heavy-rain Friday.

Four Districts Sit Under an Orange Alert

Under IMD colour codes, orange means very heavy rain of 115.6 mm to 204.4 mm in 24 hours, and yellow means heavy rain of 64.5 mm to 115.5 mm. The Thursday orange covers a central-coast belt from Ernakulam through Kozhikode, not the southern districts that took Wednesday night’s hardest falls.

The driver is a low-pressure area over the southwest Bay of Bengal off the Tamil Nadu coast, which formed at 0530 hours IST on October 21 and was still there at 0830 hours. Its associated cyclonic circulation extends up to 5.8 km above mean sea level and is feeding moisture into Kerala’s ghats, the south and the central belt.

A separate low over the southwest Arabian Sea is moving toward the Somalia coast and is not the system on Kerala’s rainfall maps. Disaster managers across the state have been put on high alert for continued heavy rain, lightning and gusty winds.

Southern Ghats Took the First Punch Overnight

Eastern ghat slopes, southern Kerala and parts of Central Travancore had already seen heavy rain through Wednesday night, with waterlogging and broken routines in several towns. The hill station of Ponmudi in Thiruvananthapuram district recorded 14 cm in the 24 hours ending 0830 hours IST on October 21, the highest Kerala total in that IMD tally.

THE RAIN THAT HAD ALREADY FALLEN

• Ponmudi: 14 cm in Thiruvananthapuram district, classed as very heavy rain.
• MGR Nagar: 15 cm in Tamil Nadu, showing the same Bay low soaking the far south.
• Tirupati: 11 cm over Rayalaseema, logged as heavy rain in the same bulletin.
• Kochi city: 17.0 mm, with a maximum of 31.2°C and a minimum of 25.6°C, a coastal reading far below the ghat catch.

That gap between a city gauge and a ghat station is the pattern this spell keeps repeating. Moisture streaming off the Bay is lifted on the eastern slopes, so cuttings, estate roads and rail lines take the load before a corporation ward floods.

The Warning Colours Shift Through Sunday

IMD district warnings for Kerala walk north after Wednesday’s southern orange, dip to yellow on Friday, then return to the far north on Saturday and to the ghats on Sunday. Fairly widespread to widespread rain is likely over Kerala and Mahe from October 21 to 27.

DISTRICT ALERTS FROM OCTOBER 21 TO 25

Isolated heavy rain is still likely on October 23 and again on October 26 and 27, so the colour drop on Friday is not a clear-up. Thunderstorms with lightning and gusty winds of 30-40 kmph, gusting to 50 kmph, are likely over Kerala through October 23, with 40-50 kmph gusting to 60 kmph on October 24 and 25. Heavy-rain warnings run to October 27.

Mud on the Track Stopped a Superfast at Parassala

The first structural failure of the spell came before dawn on the Thiruvananthapuram-Nagercoil line, where the ghats meet the Tamil Nadu border. At 2:19 a.m. on October 22, heavy rain triggered minor landslips at two spots near Parassala railway station, and earth slid onto the track.

Train No. 22619, the Bilaspur-Tirunelveli Superfast Express that had left Bilaspur on October 20, was stopped there. Four wheels of the locomotive slipped off the rails. A relief engine hauled the coaches back to Neyyattinkara, and passengers were sent on by road. Southern Railway said no one was hurt.

All passengers and railway staff are safe.

Southern Railway, Thiruvananthapuram Division statement, October 22, 2026

An accident relief train was sent to rerail the loco and clear the cutting. Track work was finished in the morning, safety checks were completed, and the Kanniyakumari-Mangaluru Central Parasuram Express later departed Parassala and passed the section. The 22619 service was still short-terminated at Neyyattinkara, with the Neyyattinkara-Tirunelveli leg cancelled and buses laid on.

Thiruvananthapuram Division posted the passenger changes while restoration was under way.

LANDSLIDE IN NEYYATINKARA – PARASSALA SECTION/ CHANGES IN TRAIN SERVICES

The following changes have been made to train services due to traffic restoration works near Parassala Railway Station.

FULL CANCELLATION
(22.10.26)

1)
Train No. 56306 Thiruvananthapuram North –… pic.twitter.com/wifMrsSgsI

— DRM Thiruvananthapuram (@drm_tvc) October 22, 2026

TRAINS CANCELLED ON OCTOBER 22

• 56306: Thiruvananthapuram North-Nagercoil Junction Passenger, booked off Thiruvananthapuram North at 6.30 hrs.
• 56309: Nagercoil Junction-Thiruvananthapuram North Passenger, booked off Nagercoil at 18.20 hrs.
• 56102: Nagercoil Junction-Kollam Junction Passenger, booked off Nagercoil at 6.25 hrs.
• 56101: Kollam Junction-Nagercoil Junction Passenger, booked off Kollam at 15.35 hrs.
• 56305: Nagercoil Junction-Thiruvananthapuram North Passenger, booked off Nagercoil at 7.55 hrs.
• 56310: Thiruvananthapuram North-Nagercoil Junction Passenger, booked off Thiruvananthapuram North at 13.25 hrs.

The Parasuram Express, Train No. 16650, was rescheduled from 3.45 a.m. to 7 a.m., a delay of 3 hours 15 minutes. Three other trains were held en route, at Eraniel, North Panakudi and Nanguneri, including the Tambaram-Thiruvananthapuram Central Amrit Bharat Express. Temporary passenger numbers are 9188241681, 9188523905 and 8590137970.

A rail cutting that fails at 2:19 a.m. after 14 cm on a nearby ghat is the practical warning for Idukki and Wayanad on Sunday, when orange returns to those slopes. The Thursday orange over Ernakulam and Kozhikode is a different coastline; the landslip was a southern ghat problem left over from Wednesday’s colour.

Why a Second Bay Low Matters After Friday

IMD expects a fresh low-pressure area over the southeast and adjoining east-central Bay of Bengal around October 23, after an upper-air cyclonic circulation over the Gulf of Thailand, Thailand and Myanmar moves into the north Andaman Sea and then west-northwest. That system is then likely to move northwest and intensify, which is the moisture feed behind the second very heavy window on October 24 and 25.

Under the influence of the low-pressure area over Southwest Bay of Bengal off Tamil Nadu coast, isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall likely over Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal and Kerala during 21st-25th.

India Meteorological Department, press release, October 21, 2026

The same bulletin lists isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall over Kerala on October 21-22 and again on October 24-25, with isolated heavy rain on October 23 and on October 26-27. Friday’s all-yellow map matches that dip: a heavy-rain day sitting between two very heavy pulses, not a break in the week.

Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal stay inside the same Bay-low envelope through October 25, with isolated very heavy rain there on each of those days. The trough that had run from the southwest Bay low toward the north Andhra Pradesh coast at 3.1 km had already become less marked by the October 21 bulletin, so the next increase in Kerala rain is tied to the new Bay system, not to that old trough.

Gusts step up with that second pulse. Kerala and Lakshadweep are likely to see thunderstorms with 40-50 kmph winds, gusting to 60 kmph, on October 24 and 25, stronger than the 30-40 kmph gusting to 50 kmph listed through October 23.

Fishing Boats Are Ordered Off the Sea

The Kerala State Disaster Management Authority, citing IMD, told boats to stay off the Kerala and Lakshadweep coasts from October 22 to 25, and off the Karnataka coast from October 23 to 25. The Thiruvananthapuram meteorological centre’s fishermen warning, issued at 0530 hours IST on October 22, lists squally weather along the Kerala coast of 35-45 kmph, gusting to 55 kmph, from October 22 to 25.

KSDMA repeated that order at 6 a.m. on October 22.

മത്സ്യത്തൊഴിലാളി ജാഗ്രത നിർദേശം – പുതുക്കിയത്
കേരള – ലക്ഷദ്വീപ് തീരങ്ങളിൽ ഇന്ന് (22/10/2026) മുതൽ 25/10/2026 വരെയും കർണാടക തീരത്ത് 23/10/2026 മുതൽ 25/10/2026 വരെയും മത്സ്യബന്ധനത്തിന് പോകാൻ പാടില്ലെന്ന് IMD അറിയിച്ചു.

06.00 AM; 22/10/2026

IMD-KSEOC-KSDMA pic.twitter.com/EvLbiKd1Kw

— Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (@KeralaSDMA) October 22, 2026

COASTAL WARNINGS IN FORCE

• Boats: Fishermen are advised not to venture into the sea along the Kerala and Lakshadweep coasts through October 25.
• Ports: Local Cautionary Signal Number III was hoisted at Kasaragod and Kannur.
• Swell: INCOIS forecasts 0.8 to 1.2 m waves from Kappil to Pozhiyoor on the Thiruvananthapuram coast, from 14:30 hours on October 22 to 23:30 hours on October 23.

KSDMA, passing on the INCOIS swell note, warned of possible sea incursion on that Thiruvananthapuram stretch through 11.30 p.m. on October 23. IMD’s impact list for very heavy rain also flags small ships, trawlers and boats, along with tree damage, loose objects, poor visibility and local landslides.

Onshore work, tourism and helicopter sorties are to be scaled back while the thunderstorm warning is live. Lightning advice is blunt: do not shelter under trees, unplug appliances, get out of water, and stay off anything that conducts electricity.

Hill Slopes and Riverbanks Stay on the Clock

KSDMA sounded precautionary sirens on Wednesday evening in the five southern districts that were then on orange, and it has kept taluk and district control rooms open around the clock. Toll-free lines are 1077 and 1070.

WHAT CONTROL ROOMS ARE ASKING PEOPLE TO DO

• Slopes: Families in landslide, mudslide and flash-flood pockets should move when local officials say so, and check relief-camp locations in daylight with panchayat and revenue staff.
• Rivers: People on riverbanks and downstream of dams should relocate if instructed, and no one should cross rivers or enter water for bathing or fishing in heavy rain.
• Hills and falls: Tourist visits to waterfalls, water bodies and hilly areas should wait until the alerts are withdrawn.
• Farms: IMD’s agromet note for Kerala asks growers to drain paddy, coconut, vegetables, ginger and banana, stake banana and papaya, watch paddy for blast and sheath rot, and hold off fertiliser and spraying while rain is falling.

Those instructions sit on a forecast that still has two very heavy days after Friday. Orange returns to Idukki and Wayanad on October 25, the same class of slope that already put mud on the Parassala rails. The Thursday orange over Ernakulam, Thrissur, Malappuram and Kozhikode is the middle colour on a week-long map, and the second Bay low around October 23 is the system that map is waiting on.