Chennai, Nov 24 (IANS): The Regional Centre of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted heavy rains in the coastal areas of Tamil Nadu on Wednesday.

The IMD has also forecast thunderstorms with heavy rains in the southern and delta districts of the state with the possibility of downpours in the remote areas of Chennai.

An orange alert in Chennai and neighbouring districts has been issued for Thursday to Saturday.

The IMD in its bulletin on Tuesday evening said that a low-pressure area is likely to form over southwest Bay of Bengal during the next 24 hours.

The low pressure is likely to move west-north westwards towards Sri Lanka and the southern Tamil Nadu coast.

The Area Cyclone Warning Centre said the low-pressure system will form over Sri Lanka which will lead to rains in Chennai and north coastal Tamil Nadu from Thursday to Saturday.

The IMD also ruled out the possibility of the low-pressure system changing into a cyclone.

Sunil Vasudevan, a software entrepreneur, who runs his own startup at OMR, told IANS: "Earlier rains were welcome, Chennaites loved it to the full and people used to dance in the open during rains. However, now each report is making life difficult for us. Our system is creating havoc, not weather gods. We have to clear the canals, drainage and increase the drainage system to cater to heavy rains. It is not acceptable that one heavy rain leads to inundation. This has to change and our rulers have to be more considerate towards the public as infrastructure is creating the issue and water has to be properly drained out."