Heavy rain to hit Chennai, northern, delta and western districts on Sunday

The Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) has forecast heavy to very heavy rain at isolated places in Mayiladuthurai, Nagapattinyam, Tiruvarur, Thanjavur, Pudukkottai, Ariyalur, Perambalur, Tiruchi, Karur, Cuddalore, Nilgiris, Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Sivaganga and Karaikal districts area on Sunday.

Isolated places in Theni, Dindigul and Madurai districts are likely to get extremely heavy rainfall, and have been issued a red alert.

Heavy rain is likely to occur at isolated places over Tiruvallur, Chennai, Chengalpattu, Kancheepuram, Villupuram, Kallakurichi, Vellore, Ranipet, Tirupattur, Tiruvannamalai, Namakkal, Salem, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Erode, Virudhunagar, and Kanyakumari districts, and Puducherry.

Till 8.30 a.m. on Saturday, rainfall occurred in around 80% of places over Tamil Nadu. Of the 620 stations online, 493 recorded rainfall. Burliyar station recorded 25 cm, which was the highest quantum of rain during that period.

Low pressure area

The low-pressure area (LPA) over the east-central and adjoining southeast Bay of Bengal moved west-northwestward and became well-marked by 8:30 a.m. on Saturday.

It is most likely to persist over the same region and intensify into a depression. Thereafter, it is likely to move west-northwestward and intensify further into a deep depression on Sunday and into a cyclonic storm by Monday morning. It would then move west-northwestwards, continue to intensify, and reach near the Andhra Pradesh coast around Wednesday morning.

The LPA over the Southeast Arabian Sea and the adjoining Lakshadweep area persisted over the same region at 8.30 a.m. on Saturday. According to RMC sources, this impacted the rains over the Western Ghats.

On Monday, heavy to very heavy rain is likely to occur at isolated places over Pudukkottai, Sivaganga, and Ramanathapuram districts. Heavy rain is likely to occur at isolated places over Nilgiris, Coimbatore, Theni, Dindigul, Madurai, Virudhunagar, Tenkasi, Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari districts.

For Tuesday, the forecast is heavy rain at isolated places over Ramanathapuram. Moderate rain is likely to occur at isolated places over the rest of south Tamil Nadu. Light rain is likely to occur at isolated places over the rest of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and the Karaikal area. Light to Moderate rain is likely to occur at isolated places over South Tamil Nadu districts.