Red warning in coastal TN as Cyclone Gaja closes in
IMD says heavy rain expected but storm may weaken before it makes landfall
NEW DELHI: With heavy to very heavy rain predicted in some Tamil Nadu districts when Cyclone Gaja makes landfall on Thursday, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a “red warning” recommending that local authorities should take action and move coastal dwellers to safe places.
According to the warning, Cuddalore, Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur, Thanjavur, Pudukottai, Tuticorin and Ramanathapuram districts are likely to receive “extremely heavy rainfall” (in excess of 20 cm) on November 15.
A statement by the minisitry of earth sciences, under which the IMD works, has clarified that a “red warning” has been issued, not a “red alert”.
A red warning, which recommends to state governments that all possible action should be taken to keep people safe, is different from a “red alert” that is issued by a state government to warn the local people about impending weather conditions.
“The red warning for some districts means that local authorities should take action for extremely heavy rain. The severe cyclonic storm will weaken TYPES OF WARNINGS (IMD)
before landfall. But when the storm is severe, ships and fishermen in the deep sea are likely to be impacted,” said M Mohapatra, IMD’S meteorology director. The IMD had issued a red warning for several Kerala districts on August 9, following which the state witnessed flooding unprecedented in at least 80 years. In the case of Tamil Nadu, the action suggested by the MOES statement is “total suspension of fishing operations” along and off the coasts of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and adjoining south Andhra Pradesh till Thursday.
“The fishermen are advised not to venture into central parts of south and central Bay of Bengal on November 13 and into
southwest and adjoining westcentral Bay of Bengal till November 15,” the statement said.
Fishermen who are in the deep sea have been advised to return while coastal hutment dwellers will be moved to safer places.
On Tuesday, the cyclonic storm lay centred about 690 km east-northeast of Chennai and 790 km east-northeast of Nagappattinam, having moved west-northwestwards at a speed of 12 kmph from its earlier position over west-central and adjoining eastcentral and south Bay of Bengal.
“It is likely to move westsouthwestwards and intensify further into a severe cyclonic storm during the next 24 hours. While moving west-southwestwards further, it is likely to weaken gradually on November 15 and cross Tamil Nadu coast between Pamban and Cuddalore as a cyclonic storm,” said the MOES statement. On Wednesday, when Gaja develops into a severe cyclonic storm, wind speeds are likely to touch 90-100 kmph and gust to 115 kmph. A storm surge with a height of about one metre above the astronomical tide is likely to inundate low-lying areas of Nagappattinam, Thanjavur, Pudukkottai and Ramanathapuram districts of Tamil Nadu and Karaikal district of Puducherry at the time of landfall, it added.
The MOES has also issued a “yellow warning”, recommending that people “be updated” on the weather situation over north and south coastal Tamil Nadu and south coastal Andhra Pradesh from Wednesday evening.
On Thursday, there is a yellow warning for Kerala . Heavy rainfall is also likely in parts of Tamil Nadu and Kerala on Friday.
Tamil Nadu revenue minister RB Udhayakumar told the media that eight National Disaster Response Force teams and seven squads of the state disaster response force had been sent to vulnerable districts. A control room had been set up in Chennai. NEWDELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it would hear on November 19 Zakia Jafri’s plea challenging the Gujarat high court order upholding the Special Investigation Team’s (SIT) clean chit given to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others on allegations of a larger conspiracy in the 2002 riots in which around 1,000 people were killed in Gujarat.
Jafri’s petition came up before a bench led by Justice AM Khanwilkar, which adjourned it to next week. Zakia is the widow of former Congress lawmaker Ehsan Jafri, who was killed in the riots. Social activist Teesta Setalvad is a co-petitioner in the case. Setalvad and her husband have separately been accused by the Gujarat police for allegedly misappropriating funds they received for an NGO run by them.
Jafri and Setalvad challenged SIT’S clean chit to Modi, the CM of Gujarat during the riots, and 58 others, in the Gujarat HC in October 2017 and lost. The SIT, appointed by the SC, had cleared Modi and others after its probe.
Ehsan Jafri and 68 others were killed when a rioting mob attacked the Muslim-dominated Gulbarg Society in Ahmedabad in 2002 in the aftermath of the Godhra train carnage. Zakia Jafri’s petition is based on her position that there was a larger conspiracy behind the riots. The petition was first filed in 2012 in a lower metropolitan court in Gujarat, which dismissed it.