Deep depression to intensify into cyclone in few hours: IMD

Landfall will see storm winds with a speed of 70-80 kmph gusting to 90 km per hour. 'The system is being constantly monitored,' RMC director Balachandran added.

Chennai: In yet another twist, the deep depression in the Bay of Bengal is likely to intensify into a cyclonic storm in the next few hours and make landfall between Karaikal and Mamallapuram on Saturday afternoon. The cyclone is expected to pack winds with a speed of 70 to 80 km per hour gusting up to 90 km per hour, bringing widespread rainfall across coastal districts of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry till December 1.

If the weather system intensifies into a cyclone as expected, it will be named Fengal, chosen by Saudi Arabia, and make landfall near Puducherry.

The weather system which formed as a depression in the Bay of Bengal earlier this week has been playing truant for the past few days – it lay stationery for several hours, kept increasing and decreasing its speed, and was expected to turn into a deep depression without intensifying into a cyclonic storm.

The Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC), Chennai, had on Thursday downgraded the alert issued to Tamil Nadu and Puducherry by announcing that the deep depression will further weaken into a depression and make landfall by Saturday. However, on Friday morning, the RMC said the system is likely to strengthen itself into a cyclonic storm which could bring heavy to extremely heavy rainfall in several districts.

“The Deep Depression over southwest Bay of Bengal lay about 360 km southeast of Puducherry. The system is likely to intensify into a cyclonic storm in the next few hours and move northwestwards towards north Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coast and cross between Karaikal and Mamallapuram,” S Balachandran, Director, RMC, Chennai, said.

At the time of the landfall, Balachandran said, storm winds with a speed of 70-80 kmph gusting to 90 km per hour. “The system is being constantly monitored,” Balachandran added.

Independent weather bloggers too said heavy rains will start to lash Chennai and its neighbouring districts from Friday afternoon. Pradeep Jon, an independent forecast expert, said the rains will start in the afternoon and will pick up by evening.

There is a chance of very heavy to extreme rains in Kanchipuram, Tiruvallur, Chennai, and Chengalpattu on November 30. John said a close vigil on the rains must be kept. Another blogger K Srikanth, who tweets under the handle Chennai Rains, said the first of widespread heavy rains for North Coastal Tamil Nadu between Chennai and Puducherry should start by late afternoon.

Dr. Kirthiga Murugesan, Program Manager, Geo Analytics, Sustainable Cities and Transport, World Resources Institute (WRI), India, said most rains will happen late Friday evening to Saturday noon.

“Some isolated places on the Chennai Coast are expected to record more than 15 cm of rain. Impact regions after landfall are Kavali, Nellore, Tirupathi, and Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh, and Ranipet, Tiruvallur, Kanchipuram, Tiruvannamalai, Vellore, and Salem,” she said.