Low pressure area likely, monsoon active in TN

A low pressure area is likely to form over Bay of Bengal by November 9 and it is likely to move towards Tamil Nadu-Puducherry coastline, the India Meteorological Department IMD said on Friday.Deputy Director General of Meteorology, Regional Meteorological Centre, S Balachandran said the Northeast monsoon is very active in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal regions and the State-UT regions, including Chennai, have received higher than normal showers.

A low pressure area is likely to form over Bay of Bengal by November 9 and it is likely to move towards Tamil Nadu-Puducherry coastline, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Friday.

Deputy Director General of Meteorology, Regional Meteorological Centre, S Balachandran said the Northeast monsoon is very active in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal regions and the State-UT regions, including Chennai, have received higher than normal showers. A dozen places recorded very heavy rains ranging up to 14 centimetres between Thursday and Friday morning, he said.

During the current monsoon season beginning last month, there have been 23 rain-related deaths, a government release said. As many as 1,149 personnel of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and 899 from the TN Disaster Response Force are on standby.

The Northeast monsoon season of October to December is the primary rainy season for Tamil Nadu and Puducherry-Karaikal besides other nearby regions, and about 48 per cent (44.97 cm) of the annual rainfall is realised during this period.

An IMD bulletin said that a low pressure area is likely to form ''over southwest Bay of Bengal off Sri Lanka coast around November 9.'' It is very likely to move northwestwards towards Tamil Nadu-Puducherry coasts with possible slight intensification during the subsequent 48 hours. A heavy rainfall spell is likely to continue in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry-Karaikal and Kerala during the next three days, it said.

Balachandran said that for the October 1 to November 4 period, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry has witnessed 21 cm showers. The normal is 20.2 cm and the state and Union territory has received 4 per cent more than normal. As regards Chennai, the recorded rainfall for the same period is 41.3 cm and the normal stood at 32.5 cm, which is 27 per cent higher than normal.

From 48 per cent less than normal in Chennai as on 31 October (1 to 31 Oct), the city has now received 27 per cent more showers. This is in view of copious rainfall from 1 to 4 November.

Authorities said that the city reservoirs of Chembarambakkam and Red Hills are nearing their respective full capacities with continuing inflow and water is released from them as per norms.