Heavy rain in South Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram: Heavy rain lashed Thiruvananthapuram and Southern parts of Kerala on Saturday. Many houses were damaged.

Many low lying areas including parts of Kollam city were flooded. The spillway shutters of Bhoothathankettu dam was opened in view of heavy inflow into the reservoir.

In Thiruvananthapuram, traffic was blocked at several places as uprooted trees and broken braches fell on to roads.  Strong winds had caused collapse of the transmission tower of All India Radio here yesterday. It would take more than a week to restore transmission from the station. Programmes are now being aired through the FM station.

The weather bureau has forecast heavy (7 - 11 cm) to very heavy (12 - 20 cm) rainfall at one or two places in Kerala from June 19 to the morning June 23.