Cyclone threat for Tamil Nadu recedes, but red alert for heavy rain stays

Battered by heavy downpour, which left a trail of destruction of standing crops across Tamil Nadu, the state heaved a sigh of relief with the MET office on Wednesday withdrawing the warning of a severe cyclonic storm following the Low-Pressure Area in the Bay of Bengal getting weakened and moving north westwards towards Andhra Pradesh.

However, the red alert for the Tiruvallur, adjoining Chennai, and Ranipet districts remains with heavy rainfall forecast for nine districts, including Chennai and the neighbouring Kanchipuram and Chengalpattu districts. Further, 13 more districts as well as the Union Territory of Puducherry have been issued yellow alerts.

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While Chennai city was spared of the intermittent heavy spell during the day, low-lying areas remain waterlogged, keeping the personnel of the Greater Chennai Corporation engaged with Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, accompanied by officials inspecting the relief works. The corporation is providing food for 1.47 lakh people kept at 215 temporary shelters.

In the Cauvery Delta districts alone, pounded by heavy rains, paddy crops ready for harvest in over two lakh acres have been damaged due to waterlogging in the farmlands. Huge amounts of harvested paddy kept at the Direct Procurement Centres (DPCs) have been drenched in rainwater with Chief Minister Stalin urging the Union government to enhance the moisture level of paddy for procurement by the Food Corporation of India (FCI). Other standing crops in many other districts have faced the similar fate, though to a lesser extent.

With the north-east monsoon intensifying, many reservoirs around Chennai are nearing full capacity and water is being released from them while dams across the state too are receiving copious inflow. The Mettur Stanley Reservoir, had reached its full capacity of 120 ft for the ninth time in a calendar year.

Earlier in the day, schools in 14 districts, including Chennai, declared a holiday in view of unprecedented rains.