{"id":372639,"date":"2026-09-26T13:23:51","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T07:53:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=372639"},"modified":"2026-09-26T13:23:51","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T07:53:51","slug":"kallakkadal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/kallakkadal\/","title":{"rendered":"Kallakkadal"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"content-box-green\">\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong> Indian National Center for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) has issued a red alert along the entire Keralam coast, warning of high waves and possible Kallakkadal conditions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"red-h2-box\"><strong>About Kallakkadal<\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_372643\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-372643\" style=\"width: 264px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-372643\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Source-IE-3.jpg?resize=264%2C300&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Kallakkadal\" width=\"264\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Source-IE-3.jpg?resize=264%2C300&amp;ssl=1 264w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Source-IE-3.jpg?w=407&amp;ssl=1 407w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 264px) 100vw, 264px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-372643\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source &#8211; IE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Kallakkadal<\/strong> refers to <strong>coastal flooding caused by swell waves<\/strong> during the <strong>pre-monsoon season (April-May)<\/strong> and sometimes <strong>during post monsoon along the southwest coast of India<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Meaning: <\/strong>The <strong>term \u201cKallakkadal,\u201d<\/strong> coined by <strong>local fishermen<\/strong>, <strong>combines two Malayalam words &#8211;<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>\u201cKallan,\u201d meaning thief,<\/strong> and <strong>\u201cKadal,\u201d meaning sea.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>When spoken, these words were <strong>combined as \u201cKallakkadal,\u201d<\/strong> signifying the <strong>sea arriving like a thief.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>In 2012, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/unesco\/#:~:text=The%20United%20Nations%20Educational%2C%20Scientific,and%20culture%20to%20promote%20peace.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">UNESCO<\/a> formally approved<\/strong> this term.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Causes\/Formation<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Ocean swell and distant storms: <\/strong>It is <strong>caused by waves<\/strong> formed by <strong>ocean swells<\/strong>, which <strong>originate<\/strong> from <strong>distant storms<\/strong> such as <strong>hurricanes or prolonged periods of intense gale winds<\/strong>.\n<ul>\n<li>These <strong>storms transfer significant energy<\/strong> from the air into the water, resulting in the formation of extremely high waves.<\/li>\n<li>These waves can <strong>travel vast distances<\/strong> from the storm centre until they reach the shoreline.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Formation:<\/strong>\u00a0Typically, <strong>Kallakkadal<\/strong> occurs due to<strong> strong winds<\/strong> in the <strong>southern Indian Ocean<\/strong>, where <strong>ocean swells are generated<\/strong>.\n<ul>\n<li>These waves then <strong>travel northward<\/strong>, taking around <strong>two to three days to reach the coastline.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Challenges in its Preparedness<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Kallakkadal<\/strong> happens <strong>suddenly without local wind activity,<\/strong> making it <strong>hard<\/strong> for coastal residents to <strong>receive advance notice.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Yet, <strong>systems<\/strong> like the <strong>Swell Surge Forecast System<\/strong>, initiated by the<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/incois-launches-three-ocean-based-services\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS)<\/a> in 2020<\/strong>, provide a <strong>seven-day warning<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"yellow-h2-box\"><strong>How Kallakkadal is different from Tsunami?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<table style=\"border-style: solid;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Kallakkadal<\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Tsunami<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Kallakkadal<\/strong> is a <strong>sudden flash flood<\/strong> event that happens <strong>without any apparent change in local winds.<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>A <strong>tsunami<\/strong> is a <strong>massive wave series<\/strong> caused by <strong>underwater disturbances.<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>It is caused by <strong>strong winds.<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>It is caused <strong>primarily<\/strong> by <strong>earthquakes<\/strong>.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News: Indian National Center for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) has issued a red alert along the entire Keralam coast, warning of high waves and possible Kallakkadal conditions. About Kallakkadal Kallakkadal refers to coastal flooding caused by swell waves during the pre-monsoon season (April-May) and sometimes during post monsoon along the southwest coast of India. Meaning:&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/kallakkadal\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Kallakkadal<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10393,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,11209,12039],"tags":[11872],"class_list":["post-372639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-geography-in-news","category-knolls","tag-9pm-daily-factly","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10393"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372639\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}