Cyclone Ditwah: 54 flights cancelled, red alert issued as Tamil Nadu hit by heavy rainfall across coastal districts

Chennai: Despite showing signs of temporary weakening due to land interaction and persistent wind shear, Cyclone Ditwah drenched several parts of Tamil Nadu, especially in coastal districts like Nagapattinam, Mayiladuthurai, and Ramanathapuram, on Saturday. 

Anticipating heavy rainfall, a total of 54 flights have been cancelled at Chennai, Thoothukudi, Tiruchirapalli, and Madurai airports. 

With the cyclonic storm expected to move towards the state on Sunday, a Red Alert (heavy to very rains) has been issued to Tiruvallur and Ranipet district while an Orange Alert (heavy rains) has been given to Chennai, Kanchipuram, Vellore, Tiruppattur, Krishnagiri, Tiruvannamalai, and Villupuram districts. 

After spending over 40 hours on land in Sri Lanka, Cyclone Ditwah returned to the open waters of the Bay of Bengal with Kodiyakarai alone receiving 25 cm rainfall in the last 24 hours ending Saturday morning, followed by Vedaranyam (18.5 cm), Velankanni (13.36 cm), and Rameswaram (7 cm). 

Chennai and its neighbouring districts received sporadic rainfall through Saturday with forecasts saying that the intensity will increase on Sunday morning. 

With situation improving in Rameswaram, the Southern Railway resumed train operations on the newly-built Pamban bridge after temporarily suspending train operations for a day. Independent weather bloggers and the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said the Cyclone will continue to give rains to coastal districts of Tamil Nadu till Monday morning. 

Though there were no deaths due to the rains, a tourist van got stranded in an area near a canal in Ramanathapuram district but the occupants were saved. 

Revenue and Disaster Management Minister K K S S R Ramachandran said about 28 disaster response teams from NDRF and SDRF have been sent to various district to handle the situation. He added that the government will deploy additional teams if needed. 

The minister said around 6,000 relief camps have been set up across Tamil Nadu to accommodate people who are likely to be moved out of their homes due to waterlogging.