CHENNAI: The city braces for the much-delayed heavy rainfall as Cyclone Ditwah, which formed over the Bay on Thursday, may move towards the north Tamil Nadu coast in two days. India Meteorological Department has upgraded alerts from orange to red (extremely heavy rain of more than 20cm in 24 hours) for delta and a few north coastal districts on Nov 28 and 29.
The city and neighbouring districts remain under an orange alert for heavy to very heavy rainfall (12cm to 20cm in 24 hours) on Nov 29 and 30. As of Thursday evening, the powerful cyclonic storm, which rapidly intensified from a depression in less than 24 hours, lay 670km south-southeast of Chennai, triggering torrential rainfall over Sri Lanka.B Amudha, deputy director general (additional charge), regional meteorological centre, IMD, said the storm is likely to bring heavy rainfall and a gradual increase in wind speeds. “Wind speeds may be 60-80kmph gusting to 90kmph in areas along the storm’s path. For the next two days, strong surface winds of 4050kmph may prevail over coastal Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal,” she said.Also See:Cyclone Ditwah
On Thursday morning, the storm moved at around 15kmph before slowing down. Earlier, the system intensified into a depression and then into a deep depression overnight. On Friday, the city and suburbs may receive one or two spells of light to moderate rainfall with thunderstorms and lightning. Partly cloudy skies may keep the maximum temperature around 30°C and the minimum at about 25°C.Heavy rainfall activity may first pick up across delta districts before spreading to north Tamil Nadu on Nov 29 and 30. Chengalpet is among the six districts under a red alert on Nov 29 with heavy to very heavy rain, and extremely heavy rain at one or two places likely. On Nov 30, Chennai, Chengalpet, Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur and Ranipet may receive heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places.While IMD is yet to confirm the landfall location as of Thursday evening, weather blogger Pradeep John said the storm may bypass the Chennai coast, following a track similar to Cyclone Ogni in Oct 2006. “This track is bound to give very heavy rains. Cyclone Ogni did,” he posted.Also Read: Cyclone DitwahMeanwhile, Cyclone Senyar weakened over the Strait of Malacca after causing flash floods and landslides in North Sumatra, Indonesia.
