CHENNAI: The regional meteorological centre on Friday said there will be light to moderate rain in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and Karaikal till November 6. Heavy to very heavy rain is likely at isolated places over Ghat areas of Coimbatore, Nilgiris, Kanniyakumari, Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi and Ramanathapuram districts on Saturday.
Heavy rain is likely at isolated places over Pudukkottai, Madurai, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Mayiladuthurai, Sivaganga, Virudhunagar, Tiruppur, Erode, Tenkasi, Theni, Dindigul districts on Saturday. On Sunday, heavy rain is likely at isolated places over The Nilgiris, Erode, Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Tirupattur, and Salem districts. The same forecast is given for The Nilgiris, Erode, Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Tirupattur, Salem, ghat areas of Coimbatore, Theni, Dindigul, and Tiruppur districts on Monday as well.
As far as Chennai is concerned, intermittent spells of moderate rain, intense at times with thunderstorms and lightning, are likely in some areas on Saturday. Speaking to the media, S Balakrishnan, deputy director general of Meteorology, RMC, said the state has received 12 cm of rainfall since October 1 and it is 40% less than the usual amount of 19 cm. “There is upper air circular in southwest Bay of Bengal, and there is increased moisture content in the air. However, the weather system is weak which is why the state is not getting continuous rains. The deficit in the rainfall is due to a combination of factors,” said Balakrishnan.
In the 24 hours ending at 9 am on Friday, many areas in south Tamil Nadu and a few areas in the north received widespread rains, with Chidambaram receiving the highest of 8 cm. The southern part of Chennai city also received heavy rains on Friday morning.
From 8.30 am to 7.30 pm, Meenambakkam observatory recorded the highest rainfall of 63mm followed by Parangipettai (23mm) in Cuddalore, Madurai (21mm) and Adirampattinam (18mm) in Thanjavur.As per the data available with Chennai corporation, Alandur received 84.6 mm of rainfall in the one hour between 9.30 am and 10.30 am while it was 48 mm in Meenambakkam. Perungudi, Adyar, and Tondiarpet received 24.3 mm, 22.8 mm, and 19.8 mm of rainfall respectively.
Meanwhile, Chief Secretary Shiv Das Meena conducted a review of the State Emergency Operations Centers (SEOC) to assess the preparedness for the northeast monsoon.During his visit, SEOC officials briefed him on a range of precautionary measures, which included the state and district emergency operations centres with toll-free contact numbers 1070 and 1077, the functionality of TNSMART portal used for monitoring storage levels of waterbodies in the state, and the operation of the common alert protocol for disseminating alerts to the public.
Additionally, during his inspection, Meena conducted video conferences with district collectors of Tirunelveli and Cuddalore to inquire about the preventive actions and measures taken by the respective district administrations.