Tamil Nadu: Schools, colleges closed in Trichirappalli district amid rain; IMD issues flash flood warnings

Chennai: Schools and colleges will remain closed in the Tiruchirappalli district of Tamil Nadu on Wednesday in view of the continuous rainfall in the region, the district administration said.

District Collector of Tiruchirappalli Pradeep Kumar made this announcement due to continuous rainfall in the district today.
Earlier on Tuesday, authorities had declared a holiday for schools and colleges in several regions, including Nagapattinam, Mayiladuthurai, and Tiruvarur, in anticipation of heavy rains.

Meanwhile, the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC), Chennai, said that the depression over the southwest Bay of Bengal has intensified into a deep depression and is likely to intensify further into a cyclonic storm on Wednesday.

“Yesterday’s depression will intensify into a deep depression… It is likely to further intensify into a cyclonic storm and move towards the north direction, towards the Tamil Nadu coast,” S. Balachandran, Director of the Regional Meteorological Centre, Chennai, said.

According to the India Meteorological Department, the deep depression over the southwest Bay of Bengal moved nearly northwards with a speed of 10 km/h in the last six hours over the south-southeast of Chennai. The IMD further stated that the depression is very likely to continue to move north-northwestwards and intensify further into a cyclonic storm on Wednesday and would continue to move north-northwestwards towards the Tamil Nadu coast, skirting the Sri Lankan coast during the subsequent 2 days.

The IMD further stated that on Wednesday the Cuddalore and Mayiladuthurai districts of Tamil Nadu and the Karaikal area will experience heavy to very heavy rain at a few places, with extremely heavy rain at one or two places. Isolated places over Chennai, Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu, Villuppuram, Ariyalur, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam, and Pudukkottai districts of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry are also likely to witness heavy to very heavy rain, with heavy rain likely to occur at isolated places over Ranipet, Tiruvannamalai, Kallakurichi, Perambalur, Tiruchirappalli, Sivaganga, and Ramanathapuram districts of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Coastal Andhra Pradesh, and Rayalaseema, the IMD further stated.

The IMD had further issued flash flood warnings in the watersheds and neighbourhoods of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and Karaikal.

Moderate to high flash flood threat likely to occur in Madurai, Perambalur, Salem, Teni, and Virudhunagar districts, with high flash flood risk in Karaikal, Puducherry, Ariyalur, Cuddalore, Dindigul, Kanchipuram, Kanyakumari, Karur, Madurai, Nagapattinam, Nilgiri, Perambalur, Salem, Sivaganga, Teni, Thiruvarur, Tirunelveli, Tiruvallur, Tuticorin, Villupuram, and Virudhunagar districts.