Even as heavy rains have been predicted for Chennai, an orange warning has been issued for Tamil Nadu on Saturday and Sunday by the India Meteorological Department. An orange warning is issued by the Met Department urging district authorities to be prepared.
On Saturday, the weather agency said that heavy rainfall at a few places with very heavy rainfall at isolated places was very likely over Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal.
Speaking to reporters in Chennai, N Puviarasan, director of the Agromet Advisory Service Unit at the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC), said, “On account of the atmospheric low pressure near the Bay of Bengal and the Kanyakumari sea, the next two days will witness moderate rains in most districts.”
He added, “Today, coastal district and interior districts will see heavy rains and very heavy rains in some parts. Five districts have had very heavy rainfall over the last 24 hours while eight districts have experienced heavy rainfall. Because of wind speeds between 40- 50 kmph, fishermen are advised not to venture into the sea near the Kanyakumari sea and Maldives.”
For Sunday, the RMC predicted, “Scattered heavy with isolated very heavy rain is likely to continue over coastal and adjoining districts of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal and extends upto western districts of Tamil Nadu (Nilgiris, Coimbatore,Tiruppur and Erode districts).
As far as Chennai is concerned, the sky condition is likely to be generally cloudy till Monday. Moderate to heavy rain is likely to occur. Rains under the influence of an active easterly wave are predicted across the state.
Very heavy rainfall was recorded on Friday at KM Koil, Cuddalore with 118 mm. This was followed by heavy rains at Lower Anaicut, Thanjavur (116.80 mm) and Lalpet, Cuddalore (83.80 mm).
According to the Tamil Nadu State Disaster Management Authority, a rain holiday was declared for schools in Chennai, Chengalpet, Pudukkottai, Sivaganga, Nagapattinam, and Kancheepuram on Saturday.