CHENNAI: It is now official. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday issued heat wave warnings to 20 districts of north Tamil Nadu and to Puducherry as temperatures soared several degrees above normal.
People living in Chennai and its suburbs are running for shelter as the season’s first heat wave is becoming nightmarish.
The Meenambakkam weather station on Monday recorded a ‘scorching’ termperature of 42.2 degree Celsius, which is 6.5 degrees above normal, while the Nungambakkam station recorded 38.9 degrees Celsius, which is 4.4 degrees above normal.
Several Collectors have issued advisories for people in their districts to protect themselves from the heatwave.
The worst is that extreme hot and humid weather may continue to prevail for a few more days, under the influence of dry westerly winds. There may be respite at the end of the week, as cyclonic storm (Maarutha) over Eastcentral Bay of Bengal further moved northeastwards and crossed the Myanmar coast near Sandoway (Thandwe) and weakened into a well-marked low pressure area over central Myanmar and its neighbourhood on Monday, which would normalise the situation to an extent, and revive cool easterly winds, predict the weathermen.
S Balachandran, director, Area Cyclone Warning Centre, said heat wave warning had been given to Chennai, Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur, Cuddalore, Villupuram, Thanjavur, Nagapattinam, Pudukottai, Vellore, Tiruvannamalai, Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Salem, Namakkal, Tirupur, Erode, Karur, Tiruchirapalli, Ariyalur and Perambalur districts of North Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
Among all the weather stations in the State, Vellore has recorded the highest temperature at 43.5 degrees Celsius. Out of 25 stations, 10 breached 40-degree Celsius mark on Monday.
G Latha, director, Tamil Nadu State Disaster Management Agency, has written a letter to all District Collectors requesting them to take necessary action.
In general, public are advised to stay indoors during the afternoon hours from 12 noon to 3, pm and drink more fluids, as too much exposure to the heat wave would be fatal at times.