CHENNAI: The regional meteorological centre on Saturday said the landfall process of the slow-moving cyclonic storm 'Fengal' would run into several hours during which it can bring heavy to very heavy rains.
RMC director S Balachandran told reporters it's a very dynamic cyclonic storm constantly changing the moving speeds. "As per the latest ocean satellite data, the landfall process will commence later today and might take several hours for the eye of the storm to completely move inland."
"The mesovortex of the storm is not round-shaped to exactly predict the landfall site, which is why we are saying it would happen between Karaikal and Mahabalipuram," he added.
He said that the situation is being continuously monitored and as it comes closer to the coast, the structure of the storm changes. It can move faster, slowly or even stay still near the coast.
The met official said north Tamil Nadu coastal districts will receive heavy to very heavy rains till Sunday, but there will be breaks between the spells.
"The cloud mass is distributed, not dense to give continuous downpour. There will be breaks between the rainfall spells," Balachandran said.
The met office maintains the red weather alert over Chennai, Tiruvallur, Chengalpattu, Kancheepuram, Villupuram, Cuddalore, Kallakuruchi and Puducherry on Saturday. While, for Sunday, a red alert is issued for Villurpuram, Kallakuruchi, Cuddalore and Puducherry.
In the last 24 hours ending 8.30 am on Saturday, Ennore received the highest rainfall of 130 mm. Several stations in Chennai received rainfall in excess of 80 mm. From 8.30 am to 1.30 pm today, Nungambakkam weather station received 97 mm and Meenambakkam received 102 mm.