The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) on Thursday, December 8 said the cyclonic storm Mandous over Southwest Bay of Bengal has intensified into a severe cyclonic storm and lay centered about 350 km east-southeast of Karaikal and about 440 km southeast of Chennai. The state authorities have declared a holiday for schools and colleges for Friday, December 9.
The storm is very likely to maintain its intensity of being a severe cyclonic storm till Friday morning and then weaken gradually into a cyclonic storm by the same day forenoon, as stated in a report by The New Indian Express.
"It would continue to move west-northwestwards and cross north Tamilnadu, Puducherry and adjoining south Andhra Pradesh coasts between Puducherry and Sriharikota, around Mahabalipuram as a cyclonic storm with a maximum sustained wind speed of 65-75 kmph gusting to 85 kmph around midnight of Friday," the IMD said in its bulletin.
Under its influence, several north coastal and interior districts of the state are likely to receive extreme to very heavy rains on December 9-10. The IMD has issued a red alert for three districts of Tamil Nadu — Kancheepuram, Chengalpet and Villupuram — and Puducherry, while an orange alert was issued for Chennai, Tiruvallur, Ranipet, Vellore, Tiruvannamalai, Tirupattur, Kallakurichi and Cuddalore for Friday.
Precautionary measures
The state authorities said adequate precautionary measures were in place to face any eventuality. The district administrations of 17 districts, including Chennai, Chengalpet, Villupuram, Tiruvallur, Vellore, Cuddalore, Ranipet, Kancheepuram, Kallakurichi, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Ariyalur, Perambalur, Pudukkottai, Salem, Dharmapuri and Namakkal, have declared holiday for schools and colleges for Friday. In Karaikal and Puducherry, schools and colleges will remain closed even on Saturday, December 10.
Chief Secretary V Irai Anbu held discussions with the heads of key departments of the State government regarding precautionary steps. A total of 12 teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Tamil Nadu Disaster Response Force comprising 396 personnel have rushed to 10 districts to face any eventuality, as per the TNIE report.
Exams like Tamil Nadu Rural Students Talent Search Examination (TRUST), Anna University's final semester exams and semester exam scheduled for Diploma students have been postponed.
