Northeast monsoon intensifies in Tamil Nadu, red alert issued for 5 districts

Chennai: Tamil Nadu’s lifeline, Northeast monsoon, has intensified with several parts of the state experiencing heavy to very heavy rainfall on Tuesday under the influence of two well-marked low pressures over southeast Arabian Sea and southwest Bay of Bengal.

The rains will continue till the weekend in most parts of the state, especially in the coastal region, the Cauvery delta region, and Chennai and its neighbouring districts of Tiruvallur, Kanchipuram, and Chengalpattu, till next week. Rameswaram and adjoining areas in Ramanathapuram district bore the maximum brunt with life being thrown out of gear since Monday night, making it a wet Deepavali.

Rains also lashed several parts of Chennai through Tuesday as the city and its suburbs braced for another spell of intense rains on Wednesday.

A Red Alert (heavy to extremely heavy rainfall) has been issued to eight districts and an yellow alert (heavy to very heavy rain at a few places with extremely heavy rain at one or two places) to 11 districts, including Chennai and its adjoining areas, prompting the government to appoint special officers to 12 districts to handle the situation.

Chief Minister M K Stalin went into a huddle with his deputy Udhayanidhi and senior government officials to take stock of the situation in rain-affected districts.

Stalin instructed district collectors to ensure that the administration is prepared to handle the heavy rains, including preparing the relief centres to house people who are likely to be evacuated from low-lying areas. “People's representatives and the entire government machinery will work tirelessly in the field to protect the people,” Stalin said.

Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC), Chennai and independent weather bloggers said besides coastal districts, interior areas in the state will also receive significant rainfall for the next few days. “This October is going to end in huge excess for Kanchipuram, Tiruvallur, Chennai, and Chengalpattu,” independent weather blogger Pradeep John said.

In a bulletin released on Tuesday night, RMC, Chennai said the low pressure areas over southwest Bay of Bengal and southeast Arabian sea transformed into well-marked low pressure areas.

While the well-marked low pressure area over southeast Arabian sea will move northwards and intensify into a depression in the next 24 hours, the well-marked low pressure area over southwest Bay of Bengal will continue to move northwestwards towards north Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and south Andhra Pradesh coasts and intensify further during subsequent 24 hours.

Ajith Kumar, who tweets under the handle Chennai Weatherman, said after Deepavali, this week will be rain filled even as monsoon peaks for coastal TN, particularly between Chennai and Nagapattinam. “The next low pressure will be forming today and moving close to the Tamil Nadu coast giving us plenty of rain in the next three to four days,” he added.

John said Cauvery Delta, Cuddalore and Ramanathapuram will get heavy rains from the new low pressure area which has formed very close to the TN coast. “This low pressure will move parallel to TN coast and will give widespread rains in the next two days. As it is connected with a trough with low in Arabian sea, there will be rains in interior districts too. Dream days for Tamil Nadu will continue,” he added. He also added that the next low pressure will form around October 25 and 26.