Cyclone Ditwah: Tamil Nadu on alert with red and orange warnings for heavy rain

CHENNAI: The Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) Chennai on Thursday (November 27) announced red and orange alerts for heavy to extremely heavy rainfall across various districts in Tamil Nadu, as Cyclone Ditwah has formed over the Bay of Bengal. The cyclone is currently 700 km away from Chennai.

Additionally, cyclone warning signal no 4 has been hoisted at four ports in Tamil Nadu: Nagapattinam, Karaikal, Thoothukudi and Pamban. Authorities have advised fishermen to refrain from venturing into the sea and urged residents in low-lying areas to remain cautious. A number 2 cyclone warning signal is in place for Chennai and Cuddalore.

November 27: A yellow alert has been issued for Ramanathapuram, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Pudukkottai and Nagapattinam, where moderate rain is likely at isolated places.

November 28: An orange alert is in place for Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Pudukkottai, with heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places and extremely heavy rain at one or two locations.

November 29: A red alert has been declared at one or two locations for Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Mayiladuthurai, Cuddalore, Villuppuram, Chengalpattu, Puducherry and Karaikal.

November 30: An orange alert is in effect for Tiruvallur, Chennai, Chengalpattu, Kancheepuram and Ranipet.

December 1: The orange alert has been issued to few places in Thanjavur, Ariyalur, Perambalur, Kallakurichi, Tiruvannamalai, Vellore, Ranipet, Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur and Chennai.

December 2: A red alert has been issued for a few places in Ramanathapuram, Sivaganga, Tiruchirappalli, Mayiladuthurai, Ariyalur and Karaikal.

December 3: A yellow alert applies to isolated locations in Pudukottai, Tiruchirappalli, Salem, Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Tirupattur, Karur, Namakkal, Vellore, Tiruvannamalai, Villuppuram, Thoothukudi, Virudhunagar, Madurai, Perambalur, Cuddalore and Puducherry.

Meanwhile, the IMD said the cyclone is likely to continue moving north-northwest across the southwest Bay of Bengal and the Sri Lanka coast, and reach the waters off north Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and south Andhra Pradesh by early morning on November 30.

On the other hand, the deep depression (remnant of Cyclone Senyar) over the Strait of Malacca weakened into a depression on Thursday morning, the weather department added.

(A red alert means over 20 cm of rain in 24 hours, an orange alert means 11-20 cm, and a yellow alert means 6-11 cm of rainfall.)