“Kerala CM Refutes Amit Shah’s Early Warning Claims Amid Wayanad Landslide Tragedy”
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan contested Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s claim that early weather warnings were issued ahead of the devastating landslides in Wayanad, which claimed multiple lives. During a discussion in the Lok Sabha, Shah asserted that the India Meteorological Department (IMD) had forecasted heavy rainfall for Kerala’s western coast as early as July 18, with eight National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams deployed by July 23.
However, Vijayan clarified that the IMD had only issued an orange alert for Wayanad, indicating rainfall between 6 cm and 20 cm. No red alert, signaling extremely heavy rain over 20 cm in 24 hours, was declared before the landslides. The red alert was only issued after the landslides struck on Tuesday morning, as the district experienced over 500 millimetres of unexpected rainfall.
Vijayan emphasized that this was not the time for a “blame game” and that he did not take Shah’s remarks adversarially. He provided an update on the ongoing rescue operations, noting that 1,592 people had been rescued and 82 relief camps set up, housing 2,017 individuals. The state government has also relocated tribal families and provided food to those unwilling to evacuate.
The Chief Minister highlighted the arrival of 132 additional army personnel and the use of two helicopters to bolster rescue efforts. Post-mortems were conducted promptly to assist the ongoing recovery mission.
