Cyclone Ditwah moves towards Puducherry; red alert issued for several TN districts
A red alert has been issued for Cuddalore, Mayiladuthurai, Villupuram and Chengalpattu districts, and Puducherry
Representative Image
CHENNAI: Cyclonic Storm Ditwah over the southwest Bay of Bengal moved northwards at a speed of eight kilometres an hour during the past six hours and was centred 430 kilometres south of Chennai at 2.30 am on Saturday. As a result, widespread rainfall has been occurring in Chennai and its suburbs since early morning. With intermittent moderate rain in several places, the city has remained cloudy.
According to the weather department report issued at 7.30 am, the system is very likely to move north-northwestwards across coastal Sri Lanka and reach the southwest Bay of Bengal near the north Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and south Andhra Pradesh coasts by the early hours of November 30.
A red alert has been issued for Cuddalore, Mayiladuthurai, Villupuram and Chengalpattu districts, and Puducherry. An orange alert has been issued for Chennai, Pudukkottai, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur, Ranipet, Nagapattinam, Ariyalur, Perambalur, Tiruchirappalli, Salem, Kallakurichi and Tiruvannamalai districts, and the Karaikal region.
Since early morning, moderate rainfall has been widespread in Ponneri, Minjur, Pulicat, Thachur, Cholavaram, Puzhal and surrounding areas of Gummidipoondi in Tiruvallur district.
Fishermen have been advised not to venture into the above sea areas. Those already at sea have been advised to avoid the southwest and adjoining west-central Bay of Bengal, the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coasts, and the south Andhra Pradesh coast till December 1, as well as the southeast Arabian Sea, Lakshadweep, Maldives region and the Kerala coast on November 30.
Squally winds reaching 50 to 60 kilometres an hour and gusting to 70 kilometres an hour are prevailing. The wind speed is likely to increase, becoming gale winds of 70 to 80 kilometres an hour and gusting to 90 kilometres an hour from the morning of November 29 till the morning of November 30. The speed is expected to decrease gradually, becoming squally winds of 50 to 60 kilometres an hour and gusting to 70 kilometres an hour by the morning of December 1.
Rough to very rough sea conditions are prevailing. These are likely to become very rough to high till November 30 and are expected to improve gradually, becoming very rough to rough from the morning of December 1.