The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall over isolated areas of Tamil Nadu on Saturday and Sunday. According to a weather bulletin issued by the Regional Meteorological Centre, Chennai of the IMD, in the next 24 hours, isolated areas in Theni, Dindigul, Madurai, Virudhunagar, Coimbatore, Nilgiris, Namakkal, Salem, Karur and Trichy districts will receive heavy to very heavy rainfall with thunderstorms. The intensity of the rainfall will be heavy on Sunday in the above mentioned districts, as per the bulletin. It also said that the skies over Chennai will be cloudy for the next 48 hours and light rains at isolated parts of the city.
In the last 24 hours, Usilampatti (Madurai district) received the highest rainfall with 13 cms followed by Devala (The Nilgiris district) and Kuppanampatti (Madurai district) with 9 cms each. Sivaganga (Sivaganga district), Hogenakkal (Krishnagiri district), Edayapatti (Madurai district) and Krishnarayapuram (Karur district) received 8 cms of rainfall each over the past 24 hours as per the IMD. Periyakulam (Theni district), Chinnakallar (Coimbatore district) and Kodanad (The Nilgiris district) received 7 cms each while Valparai PAP (Coimbatore district) and Mayanur (Karur district) received 6 cms rainfall each on Friday.
Fishermen have been advised to not venture into the sea in the Kanyakumari and Gulf of Mannar regions on September 6,8 and 9.
From June 1 to September 5, The Nilgiris has recorded the highest rainfall in the state with 1108.3 mms as against the normal rainfall of 732.1 mms. Coimbatore district received 882.7 mms of rainfall from the southwest monsoon (starting June 1) as against the normal rainfall of 585.7 mms on an average. In terms of the maximum deviation from the normal rainfall from southwest monsoon, Tiruppur district received 199% more rainfall than the normal rainfall recording 263.2 mms during the season.