How well prepared are TN and AP to face cyclone Nilam?

Chennai, Oct 31: As fear of

looms large over southern states of

and

, authorities and people across the two states are bracing to face the calamity. Cyclone is likely to strike the two states by Wednesday, Oct 31 evening.

Schools and colleges in nine districts including Chennai will remain shut on Wednesday, said an official involved in rescue and rehabilitation process.

"Five coastal districts in Andhra which are in Nilam's path are on alert. Fishermen have been advised against venturing out to sea till the storm passes. Rescue teams are also on standby and shelters being prepared in case evacuation becomes necessary," added the official.

The Chennai port on the southeast coast has stopped cargo operations after a cyclone warning, a port official said on Tuesday. "Only cargo operations have stopped, not berthing," said the official.

Met Department on Tuesday, Oct 30 confirmed that depression over Bay of Bengal has intensified into a cyclone named - "Nilam" and it would hit land by Wednesday evening.

The department also revealed the timings when the cyclone may hit Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh where emergency alert has already been issued.

According to Met sources, the cyclone will hit the two states by Wednesday evening. MR Ramanan, the IMD director, was quoted as saying, "Cyclone Nilam will hit the area between Nellore and Nagapattinam by Wednesday evening."

Chennai, Kancheepuram, Cuddalore and Villupuram received heavy rains in the morning, causing inconvenience to office-goers.

The Met department official earlier had informed, "The deep depression over southwest Bay of Bengal moved westwards, and lay centred at 1800 UTC of yesterday over southwest Bay of Bengal near latitude 9.00N and longitude 82.00E, about 500 km south-southeast of Chennai and 100 km east-northeast of Trincomalee (Sri Lanka)."

"The system would intensify further into a cyclonic storm and move westwards for some more time and come very close to Sri Lanka coast and then move northwestwards and cross north Tamil Nadu and adjoining south Andhra Pradesh coast between Nagapattinam and Nellore by tomorrow afternoon," added the official.

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