Thiruvananthapuram: Heavy rains are expected to continue across Kerala as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Saturday sounded red and orange alerts in several districts of the state for the next few days.

The IMD issued a red alert in Kannur and Kasaragod districts and an orange alert in the remaining 12 districts of the state for the day.

Besides that, it issued a red alert in 5 districts and an orange alert in 9 districts for Sunday.

For Monday, it sounded a red alert in 11 districts of Kerala and an orange alert in the remaining three.

Earlier in the day, the IMD confirmed the arrival of monsoons in the state, the earliest onset after 2009.

According to the IMD, the monsoons arrived eight days earlier than usual and the last time this happened was on May 23, 2009.

Prior to that, early onset of monsoons was seen on May 19, 1990, after 1975, it said.

Strong winds and overnight heavy rains uprooted trees, dislodged electricity poles, damaged crops and waterlogged roads across Kerala on Saturday.

The uprooted trees and broken branches also damaged houses in various parts of the state.

In the morning, state Revenue Minister K Rajan said these indicated an early onset of monsoons in the state.

He also said that the rains would be more in districts north of Kozhikode, Idukki and Pathanamthitta.

The minister further said, while speaking with a TV channel, that the strong winds that lashed many parts of the state in the intervening night of Friday-Saturday appeared to be in the nature of monsoon winds.

The IMD had on Friday said that the monsoons will arrive in the state in two days.

The minister also said that some places might receive rains in large amounts in a short period of time without any warning, leading to flash floods and landslides.

He said that the authorities were prepared to handle all such situations and the monsoons.

Rajan said that instructions have been issued to all District Collectors with regard to monsoon preparedness and that he will hold an online meeting with them during the day to assess the situation in each of their districts.

He also advised the general public to take precautions in view of the heavy rains and to travel only to safe locations.

The minister also advised against spreading of unverified and unofficial information about the rains on social media.

A red alert indicates heavy to extremely heavy rain of over 20 cm in 24 hours, while an orange alert means very heavy rain of 11 cm to 20 cm, and a yellow alert means heavy rainfall between 6 cm and 11 cm.