Tamil Nadu braces itself for Thane cyclonic storm

Chennai, Dec 29: Tamil Nadu braced itself for the possible onslaught of 'Thane' cyclonic storm, which is likely to cross the northern part of the state by early morning on Friday, threatening to bring very heavy rainfall combined with squally winds gusting upto 135 kph.

The state government announced a holiday for educational institutions in coastal districts, including Chennai, Cuddalore and Tiruvarur tomorrow. The regional meteorological office said the very severe cyclonic storm 'THANE' over southwest Bay of Bengal slightly moved westward and lay centered at about 180 km east of Puducherry, 180 km southeast of Chennai (Tamil Nadu) and 400 km north-northeast of Trincomalee (Sri Lanka).

The system is likely to move westwards and cross north Tamil Nadu coast between Nagapattinam and Chennai, close to Puducherry around early morning of December 30, it said. North Tamil Nadu and Puducherry could experience extremely heavy rainfall of 25 cm, while isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall would occur over south coastal Andhra Pradesh and Rayalseema, it said. Squally winds with speeds touching 55-65 kmph gusting to 75 kmph is likely along and off north Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and South Andhra Pradesh coasts.

The wind speed would increase gradually, gusting to 135 kmph along and off north Tamil Nadu and adjoining south Andhra Pradesh coast from tonight,it said. The met office said storm surge of about 1-1.5 meter height above astronomical tide would inundate low lying areas of Puducherry and Chennai, Tiruvallur, Kanchipuram and Villupuram districts of Tamil Nadu in landfall. Sea condition is very rough and would gradually become very high to phenomenal.

Fishermen along north Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and south Andhra Pradesh coasts have been advised not to venture into the sea in next 48 hours, the met office said. Meanwhile,the state government said it is putting in place measures to face the effect of the storm,with special teams of officials formed to monitor the situation. PWD Secretary M Saikumar held a meeting to discuss steps to be taken on a 'war footing' to tackle the effects of the storm.

PTI