Heavy rain is expected in isolated parts of southern Tamil Nadu like Kanyakumari, Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli, Ramanathapuram and Tenkasi districts on Thursday, February 2. In the last 24 hours, Vedaranayam in Nagapattinam district received 7 cm of rainfall. Kodiyakarai and Thirupoondi of Nagapattinam districts received 6 cm of rainfall while Thalaignayiru recorded 4 cm of rainfall. According to the Deccan Chronicle, Nagapattinam and Thiruvarur district administrations have decided to declare a holiday for schools and colleges owing to the heavy rainfall.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that the rainfall in these parts of the state is being caused because the depression over the southwest Bay of Bengal has moved towards the southwest direction towards Sri Lanka. This depression crossed the Sri Lankan coast on Thursday morning, which resulted in heavy rainfall in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu.
The IMD has also issued a warning for fishermen to not venture into the sea for the next few days. In the IMD’s bulletin, fishermen were asked to not go into the sea from Thursday, February 2 till Saturday, February 4 owing to the heavy winds (50-60 km per hour) on and off the Tamil Nadu coast, Gulf of Mannar and Kanyakumari coast. Similar winds are expected to be present in southwest Bay of Bengal and on the Sri Lankan coast on Thursday and the area adjoining the Maldives on Friday.