Cyclone Ditwah brings torrential rains to south coastal districts

Several south coastal and delta districts experienced torrential downpour since Friday night as cyclone Ditwah continues to inch towards Tamil Nadu coast.

The Regional Meteorological Centre has retained its forecast of light to moderate rain across many parts of Tamil Nadu on Saturday. Red alert has been issued for Cuddalore, Mayiladuthurai, Villupuram, Chengalpattu and Puducherry, in view of possibility of extremely heavy rainfall.

During the past 24 hours till 8.30 a.m. on Saturday, Kodiayakarai in Nagapattinam district received an extremely heavy rainfall of 25 cm for the day. Some other parts of the district, including Vedaranyam (19 cm), Velankanni (13 cm), Tirupoondi and Nagapattinam too received heavy rainfall of 12 cm.

Districts, including Ramanathapuram, Thoothukudi, Thiruvarur and Mayiladuthurai also received showers of moderate to heavy intensity. On Sunday, a red alert has been issued for Tiruvallur and Ranipet districts.

Cyclone to move parallel to Tamil Nadu coast

According to RMC, cyclone Ditwah moved north-northwestwards and lay centered at over the southwest Bay of Bengal and adjoining north Sri Lanka at 5.30 a.m. of Saturday, about 190 km south-southeast of Karaikal, 300 km south-southeast of Puducherry and 400 km south of Chennai.

Cyclone Ditwah now moves at a speed of 8 kmph compared to previous speed of 7 kmph till early hours of Saturday. It is very likely to continue to move north-northwestwards and reach over southwest Bay of Bengal near North Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and adjoining south Andhra Pradesh coasts by early Sunday morning.

The cyclone is likely to maintain the projected track and move parallel to TN coast till Sunday and lose intensity as deep depression by Sunday evening as it nears north TN coast.

In its tropical cyclone advisory, IMD has noted that the cyclone is currently supported by warm moist air incursion, favourable outflow and environmental conditions, which are allowing it to maintain its intensity, and it may strengthen marginally when it moves over the sea. However, as it heads northwards towards the TN-AP coasts, it will face strong wind shear and intrusion of cold dry air incursion, causing the system to weaken after November 30.

Orange alert for 14 districts

The RMC has maintained orange alert for 14 districts, including Chennai, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Ariyalur, Perambalur, Tiruchirappalli, Salem and yellow alert for Vellore, Tirupattur, Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Namakkal and Karur districts on Saturday.

In its nowcast, the RMC has forecast light to moderate rainfall to occur over Cuddalore, Dindigul, Mayiladuthurai, Madurai, Nagappattinam, Pudukkottai, Ramanathapuram, Thanjavur, Thiruvarur, Chengalpattu, Chennai,Kancheepuram, Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli, Kanniyakumari,Tiruvallur, Viluppuram districts and Puducherry, Karaikal area till 1 p.m.

Water discharge from Chennai reservoirs increased

Meanwhile, water discharge from Chennai’s major reservoirs has been increased at 6 a.m. on Saturday in view of the forecast for intense rainfall. Discharge from Poondi reservoir has been increased to 2,500 cusecs, from Cholavaram to 400 cusecs, from Chembarambakkam to 1,200 cusecs and from Red Hills to 1,000 cusecs.