Cyclone Nada made landfall between Nagapattinam and Vedaranyam in north Tamil Nadu, with wind speeds of 50 km per hour on Friday morning. The storm weakened into a deep depression over the south west Bay of Bengal, and passed over Puducherry early on Friday, only causing a drizzle in the region. Cuddalore, Puducherry and Nagapattinam received rain of up to 4 cm on Friday morning.
“A large chunk of the depression has crossed coast early morning. However, over 25% of the system is yet to make the landfall which will happen soon,” a MeT official told PTI.
Though the cyclone lost its intensity and did not affect the region much, local administration had set up 41 relief shelters and deployed National Disaster Response Force teams, Cuddalore Collector Rajesh Kumar confirmed. The Eastern Naval Command has also been kept on standby to provide any aid if required. The government has also asked fishermen not to venture into the sea for the next 12 hours. The government has also ordered evacuation of people from low lying areas fearing flood-like situation in Cuddalore, where it has been raining since Thursday.
The neighbouring state of Andhra Pradesh is also expected to receive showers in the next two to three days because of the cyclone. “As the depression would gradually lose its intensity, there would be not much impact on the south coastal Andhra Pradesh. Only a few places would receive moderate rains,” an official at the Cyclone Warning Centre told Deccan Chronicle.
Chennai had received heavy rainfall on Thursday. The showers brought relief to farmers hit by crop failure because of water scarcity, reported PTI. The north east monsoon usually manages to record about 48% rainfall in Tamil Nadu in November and December. However, the state did not receive any rain in November. November is likely to be one of the driest months the state has had in the past few decades, skymetweather.com said.
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