Chennai Weather: Red alert for heavy rainfall in Tamil Nadu; coastal districts to witness intense rain for next 5 days

Chennai Weather: As a deep depression is developing over the Bay of Bengal, which is moving towards Sri Lanka, the Regional Meteorological Centre, Chennai said Tamil Nadu's coastal and delta districts are likely to experience intense rainfall activity for the next five days from Tuesday, November 26.

Meanwhile, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a red alert for extremely heavy rainfall in three central districts for today and in two districts tomorrow.

Under its influence, heavy rain is likely to occur at isolated places in Ramanathapuram, Tiruchirappalli, Perambalur, Kallakurichi, and Chengalpattu districts.

Heavy to very heavy rain at a few places with extremely heavy rain at one or two places is likely to occur over Cuddalore and Mayiladuthurai districts and Karaikal area, the weather department said in its bulletin.

Ariyalur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, Pudukkottai, Villuppuram, Puducherry, Sivaganga, Chennai, Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur, Ranipet, and Tiruvannamalai districts are likely to receive very heavy rain, it said.

“The depression over central parts of south Bay of Bengal (BOB) and adjoining East Equatorial Indian Ocean moved west-northwestward and lay centred today over southwest BOB and adjoining East Equatorial Indian Ocean near Trincomalee, Nagapattinam and Puducherry,” it said.

This system, which was moving nearly northwestwards will intensify into a deep depression and is likely to move towards Sri Lanka-Tamil Nadu coasts, the bulletin said.

Owing to heavy rains, schools in Ramanathapuram, Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli, Tenkasi, and Tiruvarur districts remained shut on Wednesday, November 20.

Earlier in last week, the district administration of Nagapattinam, Thoothukudi, and Karaikal districts had declared a school holiday on November 19. In Karaikal, schools and colleges were closed, while in Thoothukudi, only schools were closed, with colleges remaining operational.

Chennai and its suburbs are expected to see moderate rainfall on Tuesday, along with thunderstorms and lightning in some areas. The skies will be predominantly cloudy.

Since October 1, Chennai has received 55 cm of rainfall, resulting in a 9% deficit, while Tamil Nadu has seen 33 cm of rainfall, which is a 1% deficit.

(With PTI inputs)