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A 'yellow alert' has been declared for the Tamil Nadu and South Coastal Andhra Pradesh coasts on Wednesday ahead of the landfall of cyclone 'Gaja' expected the day after.
The cyclone has moved westwards and is located 740 km east-north-east of Chennai and 830 km east-north-east of Nagapattinam, a noon update by India Met Department (IMD) update said.
Intensification seen
It would intensify into a 'severe cyclone' by tonight and maintain the status during the subsequent 24 hours (into tomorrow) and move in a west-southwestward direction.
It is during this phase that 'Gaja' would start weakening, ahead of crossing the Tamil Nadu coast between Pamban and Cuddalore as a conventional cyclone during the the forenoon of Thursday.
Squally winds with speed reaching up to 55 km/hr gusting to 65 km/hr may commence along and off the North Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and adjoining South Andhra Pradesh coasts from tomorrow morning.
These may increase gradually to gale-wind speeds reaching up to 90 km/hr gusting to 100 km/hr along and off the North Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coasts tomorrow night onwards.
Meanwhile, the US Joint Typhoon Warning Centre has continued to rule out the weakening of the storm and indicates that the landfall would be marked by winds of much higher speed and intensity.
Storm surge of a height of about one metre above the astronomical tide may inundate the low-lying areas of Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, Pudukkottai and Ramanathapuram districts of Tamil Nadu and Karaikal district of Puducherry at the time of landfall.
Associated damage is expected over districts of Cuddalore, Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur, Thanjavur, Pudukkottai, Ramanathapuram and Karaikal districts.
Weather outlook
Forecast for tomorrow (Wednesday):
Tamil Nadu : Rainfall for most places with heavy falls at isolated places likely to commence over North Coastal Tamil Nadu and adjoining districts of South Tamil Nadu from the evening.
South Coastal Andhra Pradesh : Rainfall for most places with heavy falls at isolated places likely to commence from the evening.
Forecast for Thursday:
Tamil Nadu : Rainfall for most places with heavy to very heavy falls at a few places and extremely heavy falls (20 cm or above) at isolated places over North Tamil Nadu and adjoining districts of South Coastal Tamil Nadu.
Rainfall at most places with heavy to very heavy falls at isolated places over the remaining parts of South Tamil Nadu.
South Coastal Andhra Pradesh : Rainfall for most places with heavy falls at isolated places.
Rayalaseema : Rainfall at many places with heavy falls at isolated places.
Kerala : Rainfall at most places with heavy to very heavy falls at isolated places.
Forecast for Friday:
Tamil Nadu : Rainfall for most places with heavy falls at a few places and very heavy at isolated places over Interior Tamil Nadu.
South Coastal Andhra Pradesh : Rainfall for most places with heavy falls at isolated places.
Kerala : Rainfall at most places with heavy to very heavy falls at isolated places.
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