Weather blogger Pradeep John took to his Facebook page 'Tamil Nadu Weatherman' to give a heads-up about the fast approaching Cyclone Vardah which is the third cyclonic storm in the Bay of Bengal this season.
Categorised as a very severe cyclonic storm, Vardah which means Rose in Arabic /Urdu was earlier expected to make a landfall between Nellore and Machilipatnam. But, Meteorological department officials now say the Cyclone currently at about 440 kms east of Chennai is hurtling towards the capital city, where it is expected to make a landfall by Monday afternoon.
Speaking to Express , S Balachandran, director, Area Cyclone Warning Centre , said there will be strong winds from Sunday evening, and will peak at 80-90 Kmph when the Cyclone crosses the coast tomorrow. Fishermen have been warned not to venture into sea off South Andhra and North Tamilnadu coast. Vardah is expected to gradually weaken after it makes the landfall.
As Chennai witnessed a dark and cloudy day on Sunday, Pradeep John put up a long post on his blog warning public about the intensity of the cyclone.
Here's his post-
Pradeep John is a weather blogger who disseminated real-time information by tracking weather patterns before and during the 2015 Chennai floods to reach out to people. His predictions became a be bit prophetic after some of his warnings and predictions turned out to be accurate during the Chennai floods.