Nivar likely to become severe cyclonic storm, Met office issues orange alert in Chennai

CHENNAI: The cyclonic storm Nivar brewing in the Bay of Bengal is likely to intensify further with a wind speed of 100-110 kmph gusting to 120 kmph, announced the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) here on Monday.

The weather system is about 550 km east-southeast of Pondicherry and 590 km from Chennai. "It will intensify into a cyclonic storm by Tuesday and into a severe cyclonic storm by Wednesday. The storm is likely to cross the Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry coast between Karaikal and Mahabalipuram around November 25 afternoon," S Balachandran, deputy director general of meteorology with the Regional Meteorological Centre, said.

Heavy rainfall would commence from Monday over the delta districts of Nagapattinam, Thanjavur and Tiruvarur. A two-day red alert has been issued for the delta districts on November 24-25, where extremely heavy rainfall of over 20 cm is forecast. A state of high readiness is maintained at Ariyalur, Mayiladuturai, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam, which suffered heavy losses during Cyclone Gaja in 2018.

An orange alert has been sounded in Chennai, Tiruvallur, Chengalpattu, Kancheepuram, Perambalur, Pudukottai, Cuddalore and Villupuram districts, where rainfall would range from 11 cm to 20 cm.