Cyclone Burevi impact: Southern districts of Tamil Nadu witness less rains than expected
THOOTHUKUDI: As against the expected rainfall, the southern districts of Tamil Nadu witnessed very low rainfall as on Friday morning.
Thoothukudi recorded light to moderate rainfall of 11.42 mm rainfall on an average.
Maximum rainfall was registered at Vaipar, Surangudi, Kayalpattinam and Thoothukudi town with 33 mm, 31 mm, 30 mm, and 29.6 mm respectively.
Thoothukudi District Collector Dr Senthil Raj told The New Indian Express that no property damage was reported but officials are keeping a vigilant eye across the district.
Meanwhile, neighbouring Tirunelveli registered a meagre 0.45 mm on an average while Kanyakumari district registered 0.09 mm.
Earlier, the IMD had predicted extremely heavy rainfall of more than 20 cm in isolated areas of southern districts and issued a red alert. However, surprisingly, the delta and parts of central districts received extreme rainfall instead.
Heavy showers battered Cuddalore and parts of Nagapattinam and Tiruvarur districts, with Chidambaram recording 34 cm, 33.7 cm in Kollidam, 33.5 cm in Kollidam, 32.9 cm in Annamalainagar, 29.6 cm in Lalpettai, 26.4 cm in Parangipettai, 25.3 cm in Kattumannarkovil, 24.9 cm in Kurinchipadi, 24.7 cm in Manalmedu, 22 cm in Thiruthurailoondi, 20.4 cm in Rameswaram.
With the cyclone Burevi moving slowly towards Thoothukudi after battering Pampan coast, Indian Meteorological Department had predicted severe thunderstorms with heavy rain likely delta districts and moderate thunderstorms with moderate rain for Kanyakumari, Pudukkottai, Ramanathapuram, Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli, and northern districts of Tamil Nadu during next three hours.
Professor T Raja, a weather researcher told TNIE that it was surprising to note Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli, Tenkasi and Kanyakumari did not get rainfall as predicted.
The cyclone is currently lay centered over Gulf of Mannar about 40 km southwest of Ramanathapuram (near Sayalkudi), 70 km west-southwest of Pamban and 160 km northeast of Kanniyakumari, he said.
The southern districts did not get rainfall as expected because, the cyclone remained lay-centered at two locations - off Pampan and off Sayalkudi, he reasoned.
Burevi remained stationed at Pampan for three hours from 3 pm on Thursday (Dec 3) before reaching Sayalkudi at 11.30 pm on the same day at a speed of 9 kmph, where it remains unmoved still now, Raja explained.
He added that the Deep Depression is likely to move slowly west-southwestwards and cross Ramanathapuram and adjoining Thoothukudi districts in the next few hours.
Until the cyclone cross over Ramanathapuram and Thoothukudi coasts, moderate to heavy rainfall can be expected, he said.
After making landfall, the cyclone would further weaken to "depression" and the following rainy clouds will continue to shower rains, he said.