CHENNAI: As the northeast monsoon continues to be vigorous over Tamil Nadu, rain bands today moved from Chennai basin to the delta districts, which are under the grip of an active rain spell with few stations receiving rainfall in excess of 15 cm.
IMD officials on Thursday said that an upper cyclonic circulation that lies over south Tamil Nadu and its neighbourhood and which extends up to upper tropospheric areas is expected to bring in rains.
In Chennai, moderate rainfall has been forecast for the next two days (Nov 4 & 5). Though the city remained dry till noon on Thursday, rain bands moved into the city after 2 pm bringing in moderate rainfall in several localities.
In the last 24 hours (ending 8.30 am), on Thursday, a weather station at Sirkali in Mayiladuthurai recorded extremely heavy rainfall of 22 cm, which is the highest recorded in the state so far, while seven other stations registered very heavy rainfall in the range of 11 cm to 20 cm.
20 stations clocked heavy rainfall in the range of 6 cm to 11 cm.
In view of this, the meteorological office has issued 'orange' warning to eight districts of the state.
S Balachandran, deputy director general of meteorology at Regional Meteorological Centre, said that the cyclonic circulation prevailing over Tamil Nadu will continue to bring heavy rains until November 7 (Monday).
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Meanwhile, Puducherry was battered by heavy rain on Thursday inundating several areas and almost all thoroughfares, affecting the flow of vehicular traffic. Puducherry and its suburban areas registered 5 cm rainfall till 4.30 p.m.today. The Directorate of School Education declared a holiday tomorrow (Friday) for all government and privately managed schools in Puducherry and Karaikal regions.
The forecast for Friday predicts heavy to very heavy rain at isolated places over these districts ---Mayiladuthurai, Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Pudukkottai, Sivaganga, Ramanathapuram and Karaikal.
Heavy rain is likely over Cuddalore, Villupuram, Kallakurichi, Ariyalur, Perambalur, Tiruchirapalli, Madurai, Theni, Dindigul, Virudhunagar, Thenkasi, Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli, Kanyakumari districts of Tamil Nadu, and Pondicherry, on Friday.
The IMD said that the state had been receiving very good northeast monsoon since it hit Tamil Nadu on October 29.
(With inputs from online desk)