Chennai, Nov 7 (BPNS )
The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted heavy rains in several districts of Tamil Nadu on Sunday and for the next few days. Heavy rains are expected to lash in Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu, Ranipet, Vellore, Tirupattur, Krishnagiri, Villupuram, Cuddalore, Nilgiris, Salem, Erode, Namakkal, Kallakuruchi, Tiruvanamalai, and Tiruchy.
The IMD predicted that a low-pressure area is likely to move towards North Tamil Nadu in the next two days and rains will continue to increase in north coastal Tamil Nadu on November 11 and 12.
Officials said that heavy to very heavy rains are expected in Chennai and surrounding areas from November 10th. Chennai city is already reeling under heavy rains for the past few days and people are being shifted from low-lying areas of the city including Anna Nagar.
However, the weather predicting radars at Karaikal and Chennai have gone offline following some technical snags and has given a body blow to the weather prediction.
Sources in IMD told BPNS that until the Karaikal radar is cleared of its technical snag, the stretch of area from Puducherry to Thoothukudi is in a ‘blind spot’ and this has to be rectified immediately.
The S. Balachandran, Deputy Director-general of meteorology told media persons that a team has already arrived to repair the Karaikal radar and that it would be rectified soon. However, the senior scientist said that this would not affect weather forecasting as there are satellite images, balloon data, and other tools to provide exact and accurate forecasts.
The department is depending presently on the radar at the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT). There is however skepticism among the scientific community and weather forecasters that this is an X-band radar, with a maximum range of only 150km to 200km.
In a related development Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M.K. Stalin is to visit the water inundated areas of Chennai and has already directed officials to monitor the storage levels of dams closely.
