Kerala is perhaps the most verdant and moist State in entire India after some of the Northeastern States but it is currently reeling under intense heat and a severe drought as the summer has peaked after three dry months that followed a very weak monsoon.
At least eight persons had to be hospitalised in Kollam and Pathanamthitta districts in the past three days with burns suffered from sunstroke, forcing the State labour Department to issue orders not to engage people in work in open sun between 12.00 noon and 3.00 pm after the Health Department warned of possibilities of severe sunstrokes that could even lead to death.
Weathermen warned that day temperatures could soar up to 42 degrees Celsius in many places in a week’s time if sufficient summer rains did not occur. Maximum day temperature in Kollam district had been fluctuating between 36 and 38 degrees Celsius for the past several days while Mundur in Palakkad registered 40 degrees Celsius in the first two days of the week.
Punalur in Kollam has been bearing the worst brunt of the summer with atmospheric temperature refusing to come down even late in the evenings. The maximum day temperature recorded at Punalur on Tuesday was 38.8 degrees Celsius. Though it rained in several places in Kollam district on Tuesday evening, there was no respite from intense heat on Wednesday.
An IMD scientist in Thiruvananthapuram said that a huge fall in the soil moisture due to insufficient monsoon rains and the direct fall of sunlight on the earth were the main reasons for the phenomenal rise in heat. Increase in the number of concrete structures and destruction of wetlands and forests were also contributing to the rise in “effective temperature,” he said.
“The effective temperature — as far as sensation is concerned — will always be higher than the actual atmospheric temperature in the absence of cool air current. For example, if the actual temperature is 40 degrees Celsius the effective heat can be 42 degrees,” said a Kochi-based physics professor.
Palakkad district, an arid region with a vast rain-shadow zone, is bearing the worst brunt of the summer in the State this April also. Areas like Muthalamada in the eastern parts of the district have been experiencing intense heat right from the start of March and this has increased as the summer has peaked.
lack of sufficient monsoon rains and rise in atmospheric temperature have already spelt doom for Muthalamada, the largest mango-producing centre in the country. Farmers and businessmen in the mango export sector in Muthalamada say that there has been an 80-per cent fall in production this year compared to the previous years.
“As per rough estimates, Muthalamada had been producing mango worth `200 crore a year. This year it has dropped to less than `40 crore. Also, we have lost the advantage of hitting the Gulf market before our competitors from latin America reach there because of lack of rains,” said a farmer in Muthalamada who controls a 140-acre garden.
Most of the fresh water sources have dried up leading to scarcity of drinking water and an acute fall in power generation in the State. An average dip by two to six metres in the groundwater level has been reported from all over Kerala. Palakkad and Kollam districts are the worst hit in this respect also.
Agricultural scientists point out that the shortage in rainfall has led to a dangerous rise in the acidity of top soil which is sure to affect
agriculture activities in the next cultivation season. “This would be unbearable to the farmers in the State who are already reeling under shortage of rainfall in last monsoon and the current drought,” a Government farm officer said.