Chennai, Nov 28 (IANS): The Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) on Thursday issued yellow and orange alerts for several districts in Tamil Nadu.

A yellow alert has been issued for Chennai and nearby districts, while an orange alert has been declared for the Delta districts, anticipating heavy to very heavy rainfall.

According to the weather department, Cuddalore and Mayiladuthurai in the Delta region may witness extremely intense rainfall exceeding 24.4 cm on Thursday.

Districts such as Kancheepuram, Cuddalore, Chengalpattu, Villupuram, and Puducherry are expected to experience heavy rainfall up to 24 cm in isolated places.

Chennai, Tiruvallur, Ranipet, Tiruvarur, and Nagapattinam are also likely to receive significant rainfall.

The RMC stated that heavy rain would persist over the coastal region and northern Tamil Nadu from November 29 to December 2.

Additionally, strong winds gusting up to 65 km/h are predicted over the coastal areas of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and Karaikal on November 28.

The cyclonic storm brewing over the Bay of Bengal is expected to approach the Tamil Nadu coast, bringing sustained downpours to the coastal regions until December 1.

According to the RMC, a deep depression over the southwest Bay of Bengal is currently located about 120 km east-southeast of Trincomalee, 370 km southeast of Nagapattinam, 470 km southeast of Puducherry, and 550 km south-southeast of Chennai.

The depression is expected to move north-northwestwards and intensify into a cyclonic storm within the next 12 hours.

The system will likely continue its path north-northwestwards towards the Tamil Nadu coast, skirting the Sri Lankan coastline over the next two days.

Notably, this is the fourth weather system to develop during the Northeast Monsoon season since mid-October.

However, officials have yet to determine the exact crossing point of the current system. Meanwhile, IndiGo Airlines has informed passengers that flight operations to and from Chennai, Tuticorin, Madurai, Tiruchirappalli, and Salem are likely to be disrupted due to adverse weather conditions.

In a social media post on platform X, the airline stated: “#6ETravelAdvisory: The weather conditions remain largely unchanged and continue to be unfavourable, with flights to/from #Chennai, #Tuticorin, #Madurai, #Tiruchirappalli & #Salem still impacted.”