Fishermen warned not to put to sea in view of likely formation of low pressure

The Kerala government has warned fishermen not to put out to sea from midnight tonight and prohibited fishing activities in view of the possible formation of a low pressure area over South East and adjoining Arabian Sea. The South West Monsoon is expected to hit Kerala on June 1,with a cyclonic circulation over the Bay of Bengal, according to the IMD.

As per the India Meteorologicaldepartment (IMD) bulletin at 5 PM, there was a possibility of the formation of the low pressure area from May 31-June 4 and the conditions were likely to become favourable for the onset of the South West Monsoon on June1 in Kerala. "Fishing activities have been completely prohibited since midnight tonight on the Kerala coast and South East parts of the Arabian sea.

Those who have already left for the deep sea, shouldreturn to the coast as early as possible," Vijayan told reporters here. Many parts of Kerala have been receiving rains since the past few days.

. "We can expect rains more than the normal this year too.In the next five days the rains are likely to continue as per the IMD forecast," Vijayan said. Kerala had received unprecedentedrains during the previous two consecutive monsoons, causing massive devastation and claiming hundreds of lives, besides leaving many homeless.

The chief amounts of rainfall in cm are: Cherthala and Mancompu (both in Alappuzha district) 5 each, Thodupuzha (Idukki district), Chalakudy (Thrissur district) 3 each. There was no large change in maximum temperature in all the districts of Kerala during the past 24 hours.

However it was appreciably above normal in Alappuzha, Kozhikode and Palakkad districts, above normal inMalappuram, Kannur and Kottayam districts and remained normal elsewhere over the state. Palakkad recorded the highest maximum temperature of 37 degree celsius. PTI UD BN WELCOME BN WELCOME