Another trough off South West Bay, heavy rains likely

Chennai, Dec 3 (UNI) A feeble trough of low pressure in south-west Bay near Sri Lanka has been causing heavy rains in Tamil Nadu since last night.

The weather office here said under the influence of the feeble trough which lay centred over the south-west Bay off Tamil Nadu coast, many places in the state and Puducherry were likely to receive rain or thundershowers during the next 48 hours.

Isolated heavy downpour would occur in the state and the Union Territory during the same period. Cloudy weather would prevail over here and its suburbs with one or two spells of rain, the weather office said.

Thiruchendur in Tuticorin district received the maximum rain of 4 cm, while the city, Chennai Airport, Chengalpattu and Madhurantakam in Kancheepuram district, Tambaram, Cuddalore, Parangipettai, Ramanathapuram, Arakonam (Vellore dt), Cholavaram and Red Hills (both Thiruvallur dt) received one cm each.

Sources in the weather office, however, refused to attach much significance to the trough of low pressure, saying it was normal during the north-east monsoon season and that the rains were only ''seasonal''.

UNI