Cyclonic storm Nada, which is expected to make landfall at Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in the early hours of Friday, has weakened into a deep depression, the IMD said on Thursday.
The MET department earlier on the day had said that the cyclonic storm is going to weaken in the next 12 hours and is expected to cross the coast between Vedaranyam and Cuddalore.
Cyclonic storm ‘Nada’ heads towards TN coast, heavy rains expected in Chennai from Dec 1
It said that Tamil Nadu and Puducherry will receive light to moderate rainfall with heavy showers in few isolated places. Wind speeds are expected to touch speeds of 44-55 kmph.
However, officials have maintained that fishermen should not venture into the sea.
On Thursday afternoon (at around 4 pm), the cyclonic storm was positioned at 210 km southeast of Puducherry. Weathermen forecasted that the system will move west or northwest. As a result of this southern Karnataka including Bengaluru is likely to receive light to moderate rainfall in the next 24-48 hours, Skymet said.
Earlier on Wednesday, the IMD had forecast that the deep depression over the southeast Bay of Bengal (about 770km southeast from Chennai), moving at a speed of 25 kmph and intensified into a cyclonic storm, would “very likely” intensify further and cause heavy rainfall in north Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
The IMD had issued a colour-coded cyclonic warning of ‘orange’ and Skymet forecast that wind speeds would reach even up to 80km per hour on Wednesday
Following the MET department’s forecast, Thursday and Friday were declared as holidays for schools in Chennai, Cuddalore, Kanchipuram, Tiruvallur and Nagapattinam.
The state government had also instructed all district collectors to take all precautionary measures and necessary action including evacuating people from low lying and vulnerable areas to the relief centres.
Two teams of the National Disaster Response Force and one team of the state response force were positioned in Cuddalore, and one team each in Nagapattinam and Chennai as a precautionary measure since Wednesday.
The Navy is also on alert, with two naval ships, Shakti and Satpura, on standby to proceed to the most affected areas, reported ANI. The ships will undertake Humanitarian Aid Distress Relief (HADR), evacuation, logistic support, including providing aid. Naval aircrafts will also be on standby for Cyclone Nada to assist in rescue and relief operations.
The Chennai Municipal Corporation said that it has also made preparations ahead of the cyclone with 176 relief centres and four common kitchens. Around 108 motor boats have also been kept ready for rescue operations. In order to avoid water-logging, all the lakes in and around Chennai have already been de-silted. Each zone are kept ready with motors to suck water if required. Separate teams of snake catchers have also been deployed.