Thiruvananthapuram | Overnight heavy rains and strong winds brought down trees and power lines, damaging houses, vehicles and causing power and traffic disruptions in parts of Kerala.

The continuous rains also caused waterlogging in low-lying areas in many parts of the state and rise in water levels of various rivers.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Friday issued an orange alert in eight districts of the state for three hours from 7 am.

It also predicted the likelihood of thunderstorms with moderate to intense spell of rainfall and maximum surface wind speeds reaching 50 kmph in gusts during the day in isolated places in the state.

An 'orange alert' denotes "very heavy" rainfall of 11 to 20 cm.