Chennai, Oct 21 (PTI) As the Northeast monsoon intensified across Tamil Nadu, the regional weather office on Tuesday issued heavy rainfall alert to a number of districts, while Chief Minister M K Stalin reviewed the situation with officials and directed that precautionary measures be put in place in view of the downpour.
He also directed deputing IAS officers as Monitoring Officers to districts that have been issued heavy rain alerts.
B Amudha, Director of Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) Chennai said a low pressure area that formed over the Bay of Bengal intensified into a well marked low pressure area and is located approximately 400 km from Chennai.
This could intensify into a potential cyclone, added RMC Director while briefing the media on Tuesday.
“By noon tomorrow, there is a possibility that the system will strengthen into a Depression. This is expected to occur off the coasts of north Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and south Andhra Pradesh,” said Amudha.
Depression is the stage following a low-pressure system.
According to her, while intensification up to the deep depression stage is forecast, the possibility of it developing into a cyclone or storm can only be stated with some certainty after it has become a depression.
‘Right now, the system that was a Deep Low-Pressure Area over the southeast Arabian Sea on October 20, is persisting with the same intensity,” she added.
According to Amudha, a red alert was issued for 8 districts and an orange alert for Chennai for Tuesday.
The red alert was issued to Villupuram, Cuddalore, Mayiladuthurai, Nagapattinam, Tiruvallur, Thanjavur, Pudukottai and Ramanathapuram. Similar alert was sounded for neighbouring Puducherry union territory as well.
Apart from Chennai, an orange alert has been sounded for Tiruvallur, Chengalpattu, Kancheepuram, Kallakurichi, Ariyalur, Perambalur, Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari, according to IMD bulletin.
A red alert indicates extremely heavy rain of over 20 cm in 24 hours, while an orange alert means very heavy rain of 11 cm to 20 cm.
“Chennai recorded an average of 60mm rainfall today, with a high of 100mm in Medavakkam,” added Amudha.
She also said that between October 1 and October 21, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal have recorded 160mm rainfall, which is 59 per cent higher than the normal average of 100mm for this period.
She advised fishermen against venturing into the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and South Andaman Sea from October 23 to October 26, as squally winds reaching speeds of 45-55km/h gusting up to 65km/h, are expected.
On October 22, extremely heavy rain is expected in four districts — Chengalpattu, Villupuram, Cuddalore and Mayiladuthurai — as well as Karaikal and Puducherry.
“Orange alert for Chennai tomorrow, too,” said the RMC Director.
In Chennai, CM Stalin held a meeting with district collectors through video conference and instructed them to keep relief camps ready for people affected by rain.
All arrangements, including food, drinking water and medicine should be made for people, he said, according to an official release.
To mitigate the damage caused by rain, the CM advised the teams to be on stand by with necessary equipment like JCB machines, boats, motor pumps, trucks and saws.
An official release said the Monitoring Officers will coordinate the required work in the respective districts, including Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu and Tiruvallore in north TN, besides those in the Delta region such as Thanjavur and Tiruvarur.
Earlier in the day, Deputy CM Udhayanidhi Stalin inspected the infrastructure development and renovation works being undertaken in the south Chennai area to improve the waterways so that flood water can easily flow into the sea during the monsoon season.
These works include deepening, widening, constructing covered canals with concrete walls, stormwater drains as well as desilting the areas where the canals meet the sea and the estuarine areas.
Udhayanidhi visited Okkiam Madhavi canal, where the work is being undertaken at a cost of Rs 27 crore. He also inspected the desilting work in Kannagi Nagar area, an official release said.
Meanwhile, domestic flight services suffered a delay in the morning due to the downpour. At least 8 flights departing to destinations including Bengaluru, Madurai, Tuticorin were delayed between 10-20 minutes.
Relentless rains in and around Ambasamudram in Tirunelveli district for the past two days have affected thousands of acres of paddy crop harvesting, local farmers said.
Speaking to PTI Videos, farmer Subramaniam from Kakanallur village said that because there was no respite between south west and north east monsoons this year, there was no time to harvest paddy.
“Fields are still standing with ripe paddy. If it continues to rain, farmers here will be affected. One thing the government can do to relieve our burden is enable door-step procurement of rice as soon as we finish harvesting,” he said.
According to him, even the paddy crop that some have managed to harvest could not be collected due to the early onset of northeast monsoon.
In several areas that the PTI team visited, paddy stalks are seen bent over, and in some places they have begun sprouting from the base.
Northeast monsoon has intensified across Tirunelveli, affecting agricultural villages like Mannarkoil, Ayan, Thiruvaalieswaram, Kakanallur, Vaigaikulam and Bramadesam. PTI JR SA
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