Fishermen advised not to venture into sea till Aug 6: RMC

CHENNAI: The Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC), Chennai issued a warning for fishermen in the State against venturing into the sea till August 6 due to strong wind over the Tamil Nadu region. In addition, several districts will receive heavy to very heavy rains for the next two days.

"Fishermen are advised not to venture sea as squally weather with wind speed reaching 40 kmph -50 kmph over Comorin areas in Kanniyakumari, Gulf of Mannar, Tamil Nadu coast and South West Bay of Bengal. Also, requested to avoid fishing over Kerala-Karnataka coasts, Lakshadweep area, Southeast and east central Arabian sea," cautioned a senior RMC official.

With upper air circulation prevailing over TN region, the centre predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall along with thunderstorm activity for several districts of Tamil Nadu - The Nilgiris, Erode, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Tenkasi, Tirunelveli, Kanniyakumari, Madurai, Theni, Dindigul, Tirupur, Salem, Karur, Namakkal and Virudhunagar. Five districts Tirunelveli, Tiruchy, Tirupattur, Vellore and Ranipet are likely to get heavy rains for the next 48 hours.

"As far as Chennai is concerned, sky conditions are likely to be generally cloudy. Some areas in the city expected to get light to moderate rains with thunderstorms during the evening hours for the next few days. Even the maximum temperature will be reduced than normal recording around 33 degree Celsius," said another official.

According to RMC, during the last 24 hours, the highest amount of rainfall received was 13 cm in Coimbatore, followed by Ranipet 11 cm, Vellore 10 cm, Dharmapuri 9 cm, Cuddalore and Salem recorded 8 cm rainfall each.

NDRF teams reach Kumari

MADURAI: Two teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), comprising 44 personnel, reached Kanniyakumari district, one of the southern districts for which a red alert was issued by the Met Department as heavy rains are predicted till August 4.

Kanniyakumari Collector M Arvind said while a team of 22 personnel is camping at Killiyoor, the other team is at Vilavancode. However, there’s not much rainfall and 16 rain gauge stations across the district have been monitored. The Collector said until 8 a.m. on Tuesday the district experienced an average rainfall of 49.23 mm.

Moreover, dams in the current stage could store a considerable amount of water even if it rained heavily. Further, 22 low-lying vulnerable areas have been identified and 50 temporary relief shelters have been set up to accommodate flood victims. He also said 5,000 first responders, trained by the Disaster Management Department, have been deployed.

The Collector said 15 fishermen who ventured into the sea off Colachel are yet to return. Contact has been established with them. Two houses including one in Thovalai taluk and the other one in Vilavancode taluk have been damaged.