Cyclone Ditwah has exited Sri Lanka, leaving 123 people dead, and is moving north-northwest at a speed of 8 kilometres per hour. The storm is expected to reach the southwest of the Bay of Bengal near North Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and South Andhra Pradesh by Sunday morning, the Indian Meteorological Department announced.
The storm will be centred in the Bay of Bengal with a minimum distance of 60 km on Saturday evening, 50 km on Sunday morning and 25 km away by Sunday evening from the Tamil Nadu coastline.
The region is to see more heavy rainfall, with Thunderstorms from Saturday until Monday, December 1.
According to reports, the areas closest to the centre of the storm are likely to receive the most rainfall.
The cyclone warning will remain in effect in 7 ports of Tamil Nadu, including Chennai, Cuddalore, Ennore, Kattupalli, Puducherry, Pambam and Thootukoodi.
Gale wind speeds reaching 70-80 to 90 kmph will continue until Sunday morning.
Wind speeds will reduce to 45-55 to 65 kmph on December 1.
Karnataka will also experience isolated rainfall in some parts due to Ditwah.
The cyclone is currently located 80 km east of Jaffna, 140 km southeast of Vedaranyam and 170 km southeast of Karaikal.
A red alert has been announced in Tamil Nadu for Saturday and Sunday. The warning will be reduced to a yellow alert by December 1.
Thiruvallur and Ranipet will receive very heavy rains tomorrow. An orange alert was also announced in Chennai, Chengalpattu, Kanchipuram, Tiruvannamalai, Villupuram, Tirupattur, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri and Vellore districts for Sunday.
All fishing operations in the state have been suspended.
