CHENNAI: The city and its suburbs received intermittent bouts of rainfall on Tuesday even as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) informed that the depression over Southwest Bay of Bengal intensified into a deep Depression and it is likely to continue to move north northwestwards and intensify further into a Cyclonic Storm on November 27. Once formed, the cyclonic storm will be named ‘Fengal’.
A red alert has been issued to some delta districts till Wednesday while orange alert has been issued to Chennai and surrounding districts till Thursday.
Speaking to the media on Tuesday, S Balachandran, head of Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) said that the conditions were favourable for the deep depression to develop into a cyclone. "We are yet to predict where the cyclone will make its landfall. As per the present situation, it is expected to make landfall about 150 to 200 km near the Tamil Nadu coast.
On Wednesday and Thursday, strong winds with speed reaching 40-50 kmph gusting to 60 kmph likely over North Coastal and adjoining areas of Tamilnadu, Puducherry and Karaikal area.
The deep depression is about 310 km southeast of Trincomalee, 590 km south-southeast of Nagapattinam, 710 km south-southeast of Puducherry and 800 km south-southeast of Chennai.
The Northeast Monsoon remained moderate to strong over South Bay of Bengal and South Andaman Sea. Once formed, the cyclonic storm is likely to continue to move north-northwestwards towards Tamil Nadu coasts skirting Sri Lanka coast during subsequent two days, the RMC said. It has also asked fishermen who are involved in deep sea fishing to return to the shore immediately.
The warnings issued are as follows:
Tuesday:
Red alert - Mayiladuthurai, Nagapattinam and Tiruvarur districts and Karaikal area. Heavy to very heavy rain at a few places with extremely heavy rain at one or two places is likely.
Orange alert - Chennai, Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu, Villuppuram, Cuddalore, Ariyalur, Thanjavur, Pudukkottai, Sivaganga and Ramanathapuram districts and Puducherry. Heavy to very heavy rain is likely to occur at isolated places is likely.
Yellow alert - Kallakurichi, Perambalur, Tiruchirappalli and Thoothukudi districts. Heavy rain is likely to occur at isolated places.
Wednesday:
Red alert - Cuddalore and Mayiladuthurai districts and Karaikal area.
Orange alert - Chennai, Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu, Villuppuram, Ariyalur, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam and Pudukkottai districts and Puducherry.
Yellow alert - Ranipet, Tiruvannamalai, Kallakurichi, Perambalur, Tiruchirappalli, Sivaganga and Ramanathapuram districts.
Thursday:
Orange alert - Chennai, Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu, and Villuppuram districts.
Yellow alert - Ranipet, Tiruvannamalai, Kallakurichi & Cuddalore districts and Puducherry.
Friday:
Yellow alert - Chennai, Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu and Ranipet districts.