Red alert for Tamil Nadu, state braces for heavy rainfall

Chennai: The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a Red Alert in parts of Northern Tamil Nadu, on Thursday, in response to evolving weather conditions in the Bay of Bengal region. The alert is applicable to Chennai, its adjoining districts and Ranipet.

 “A low-pressure area lies over Southeast Bay of Bengal. It is likely to move nearly westwards and reach Westcentral and adjoining Southwest Bay of Bengal off South Andhra Pradesh- North Tamil Nadu coasts on 18th November” said the Met office.

The department also predicted heavy to very heavy downpour in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Karaikal and Coastal Andhra on Wednesday and extremely heavy rainfall on Thursday.

Over the last one week, several parts of Tamil Nadu were lashed by rains, in a short span of time. National Disaster Response Force was deployed in several inundated areas to ensure speedy evacuations.

As Tamil Nadu braces for rain, an alert has also been issued for parts of Karnataka, due to developing weather conditions in the East-central Arabian Sea off the Karnataka Coast to the North Konkan coast. Gusty winds with speeds up to 50kmph have been forecast for Kerala-Karnataka-Goa coasts until November 19. Meanwhile, the NDRF teams have been deployed on standby across Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Kerala, to mitigate the situation that may arise from extreme rainfall and its aftereffects.

In total, 18 NDRF teams have been deployed across the two Southern States - 9 teams in Tamil Nadu, 7 teams in Kerala and 2 teams in Andaman and Nicobar islands. Over the previous week, in Tamil Nadu alone, in last one week, NDRF personnel have evacuated nearly 600 persons from inundation in residential areas, besides the rescue of 10 persons from rain-related mishaps. NDRF teams have cleared dozens of kilometres of roads by felling and clearing fallen trees, that were obstructing vehicular movement. Of the nine teams in Tamil Nadu, seven have been stationed in and around Chennai, whereas two teams are at work in the Kanyakumari district.

In the last week, NDRF personnel have evacuated nearly 600 persons from inundation in residential areas in Tamil Nadu alone besides the rescue of 10 persons from rain-related mishaps. In Kerala, NDRF teams are deployed at Alappuzha, Kozhikode, Ernakulam, Kottayam, Idukki, Pathanamthitta and Thrissur.

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