Chennai, Oct 17 (IANS): The Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) has lowered the Red alert for Chennai and adjoining districts to an Orange alert, as rains in these areas are expected to be moderate.
However, the RMC has predicted heavy rains in northern Tamil Nadu.
In a statement, the RMC said that on Wednesday night, a depression over the Bay of Bengal was moving at 17 km/h and was about 190 km southeast of Chennai and 270 km southeast of Nellore in Andhra Pradesh.
The weather department said that rains will continue in many parts of Tamil Nadu on Thursday and Friday. The RMC also mentioned that in some areas, there may be breaks in rainfall across Tamil Nadu.
It is worth noting that the northeast monsoon arrived in Tamil Nadu on Monday night, following the withdrawal of the southwest monsoon.
Many areas in Chennai, Chengalpattu, Kancheepuram, and Tiruvallur districts experienced heavy to very heavy rains on Thursday, leading to waterlogging and stagnation.
The Tamil Nadu State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have already deployed personnel in areas where flooding and inundation are likely.
Ten teams from the NDRF and sixteen teams from the SDRF have been deployed in various districts expected to receive heavy rainfall.
In a statement, the state revenue department said that even though the weather department has downgraded the Red alert to an Orange alert in Chennai and adjoining districts, the government has not reduced its level of preparedness.
Weather prediction messages have been sent to around 8.5 million mobile phone users through the Common Alert Protocol.
The revenue department has also set up 5,147 relief centres across Tamil Nadu, including 300 in Chennai.
The state government has appointed 50 IAS officers to coordinate relief operations. Out of the 249 complaints received by the State Emergency Operations Centre, 215 have already been addressed.
Since October 1 this year, Tamil Nadu has received 10.52 cm of rainfall, which is 68 per cent more than usual.
In the past 24 hours, Tamil Nadu received an average of 2.2 cm of rain, while Chennai received an average of 6.5 cm.
Reservoirs in Chennai have received considerable inflow as the rainfall steadily increased over the catchment areas.
The northeast monsoon has set in five days before its normal onset date of October 20 and the weather department said that typically, the northeast monsoon can be nine days before or after the expected date.