Red alert for Chennai, 7 other districts today

CHENNAI: The Regional Meteorological Centre has issued a red alert for several districts of Tamil Nadu including heavy to very heavy rains on Sunday due to atmospheric circulation over the Kanniyakumari coast and adjoining Sri Lanka coast.

“Due to atmospheric overlay circulation over Kanyakumari coast, and adjoining Sri Lanka coast, several districts of Tamil Nadu — Chennai, Thiruvallur, Chengalpattu, Kancheepuram, Villupuram, Cuddalore, Mayiladathurai, and Nagapattinam — and Puducherry and Karaikal are issued red alert predicting heavy to very heavy rains for today and tomorrow,” said N Puviarasan, Director, Area Cyclone Warning Centre, Regional Meteorological Center (RMC), Chennai on Saturday.

Thunderstorms with heavy rains are also predicted in Ariyalur, Perambalur, Kallakurichi, Salem, Dharmapuri, Tirupur, Coimbatore, Erode and the Nilgiris.

“Only till Sunday, Chennai is expected to receive heavy rains. After that, it would gradually decrease. As a new low-pressure area is likely to form over South Andaman Sea on November 29, it would move towards the west-northwest. So there won’t be any impact for Tamil Nadu as of now,” said Puviarasan.

Fishermen were advised not to venture into the sea till Sunday as a cyclonic storm is expected to blow at a speed of 40 to 50 kmph along the Kanniyakumari coast, southwest Bay of Bengal and South Tamil Nadu coast.

According to RMC, Tamil Nadu rainfall has increased by 79 per cent from October 1 till date, and Chennai received 106 cm against its normal rainfall of 60 cm, followed by Villupuram 103 cm against 41 cm of rainfall. Meanwhile, during the past 24 hours, Tiruvallur received 20 cm of rainfall, Chengalpattu 18 cm, Kancheepuram 17 cm, and Cuddalore 11 cm.