Chennai, Nov 20 (IANS): With heavy rains predicted from Sunday, the Tamil Nadu revenue department has directed people living at the banks of rivers to be cautious as water will be discharged from the reservoirs.

The state revenue department said that as many as 121 multipurpose cyclone shelters and 5,093 relief centres have been readied.

It may be noted that Chembarambakkam lake discharged 912 cusecs of water on Saturday and Red Hills reservoir discharged 677 cusecs of water. The administration has advised people living in low-lying areas to move to safer locations.

17 monitoring officers have been appointed for Chennai and 43 monitoring officers for other districts to manage any problems due to the heavy rains.

Heavy rains are expected on Sunday as the low-pressure area in the Bay of Bengal is likely to move west, north-westwards, and bring heavy rainfall on Sunday in the Chengalpattu, Villupuram, and Cuddalore districts of Tamil Nadu. Chennai is also expected to receive heavy rains.

The revenue department has also directed the Greater Chennai Corporation and other district administrations to improve flood preparedness to face the next heavy spell of rain in the next three days.

National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams have already sounded the warning to be on alert to face any eventuality during the next spell of rain.