Abu Dhabi: Indian expats in UAE who were planning to travel to Kerala are expressing concern due to the heavy rainfall currently affecting the state.
In the last few days, the monsoon in Kerala has intensified and India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a red alert in the Idukki district and an orange alert in six other districts.
Educational institutes have been shut down in 11 districts due to rainfall.
Thousands of people have evacuated their homes and relocated to relief camps as a result of the heavy rains that have fallen during this time. These events have significantly disrupted daily life and 40 people have lost their lives so far.
According to Khaleej Times, UAE resident Reena Philip, who also operates a travel agency, said “I have booked a ticket for Thiruvananthapuram but I cancelled the plan due to heavy rains in Kerala.”
“I can postpone my trip easily, however, I know that there are many Indian families in UAE who wanted to visit their home country and had booked tickets in advance to avail discounts and get tickets at a reasonable price,” Philip added.
However, this is not the first time that Indian expats are facing inconvenience for visiting their hometown.
In 2022, five flights from the Middle East bound for Calicut Airport were diverted to Cochin International Airport due to bad weather conditions in Kozhikode.
In 2018, the Cochin International Airport was closed for several days in the huge floods that took place in 2022. Airport infrastructure was damaged in the floods, with an estimated loss of Dh 11-12.5 million (Rs 24,74,25,860.00-28,11,65,750).
In August 2019, airport operations had to be suspended for a few hours due to the occurrence of heavy rainfall.
