Heavy rains likely in Chennai, orange warning for Tamil Nadu on Sunday

Fishermen have been asked to avoid the Kanyakumari sea and Maldives areas

Even as heavy rains have been predicted for Chennai, an orange warning has been issued for Tamil Nadu on Saturday and Sunday by the India Meteorological Department. An orange warning is issued by the Met Department urging district authorities to be prepared.  

On Saturday, the weather agency said that heavy rainfall at a few places with very heavy rainfall at isolated places was very likely over Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal.

Speaking to reporters in Chennai, N Puviarasan, director of the Agromet Advisory Service Unit at the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC), said, “On account of the atmospheric low pressure near the Bay of Bengal and the Kanyakumari sea, the next two days will witness moderate rains in most districts.”

He added, “Today, coastal district and interior districts will see heavy rains and very heavy rains in some parts. Five districts have had very heavy rainfall over the last 24 hours while eight districts have experienced heavy rainfall. Because of wind speeds between 40- 50 kmph, fishermen are advised not to venture into the sea near the Kanyakumari sea and Maldives.”

For Sunday, the RMC predicted, “Scattered heavy with isolated very heavy rain is likely to continue over coastal and adjoining districts of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal and extends upto western districts of Tamil Nadu (Nilgiris, Coimbatore,Tiruppur and Erode districts).

As far as Chennai is concerned, the sky condition is likely to be generally cloudy till Monday. Moderate to heavy rain is likely to occur. Rains under the influence of an active easterly wave are predicted across the state.

Very heavy rainfall was recorded on Friday at KM Koil, Cuddalore with 118 mm. This was followed by heavy rains at Lower Anaicut, Thanjavur (116.80 mm) and Lalpet, Cuddalore (83.80 mm).

According to the Tamil Nadu State Disaster Management Authority, a rain holiday was declared for schools in Chennai, Chengalpet, Pudukkottai, Sivaganga, Nagapattinam, and Kancheepuram on Saturday.

Advertisement

"The suspects are being examined to ascertain their association with the arrested accused persons besides their involvement in any unlawful activity, intended at furthering the objectives of ISIS/ Daish," the spokesperson added.

The NIA has registered the case taking suo-motu on May 30 this year against six accused persons from Coimbatore, based on the information that the accused persons and their associates have been propagating the ideology of the proscribed terrorist organization ISIS/ Daish on social media with the intention of recruiting vulnerable youth into the ISIS/ Daish and carrying out terrorist attacks in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

The official said that it was learnt that some of the accused persons and their associates were following the Sri Lankan ISIS/ Daish leader Zahran Hashim and his associates, over social media, with the intention of furthering the objectives of the ISIS/ Daish in India.

Earlier, the NIA has carried out searches on June 12, at the houses of six accused persons in Coimbatore and based on the incriminating facts revealed, two accused Mohammed Azarudheen and Shiek Hidayathulla were arrested. According to NIA officials, Azarudeen, alleged head of the IS Tamil Nadu module was a Facebook friend of Zahran Hashim, one of the suicide bombers in the Easter Sunday terror attacks in Sri Lanka in April this year.