Heavy Rains in North Tamil Nadu, Andhra as Cyclone Laila Intensifies

Heavy rains have lashed the coastal areas of north Tamil Nadu as Cyclone Laila intensified further moving to get centred in the Bay of Bengal nearly 190 km east-northeast of Chennai and is likely to cross the Andhra Pradesh coast, said media reports.

Met Department officials said that the cyclonic storm over southwest and adjacent west-central Bay of Bengal moved slightly northwards and lay centred at about 190 km east-northeast of Chennai at 5.30am, resulting in heavy rains in many places, including the city, since last night, reports said.

Due to the rains, fishermen have been advised not to venture into the sea, said reports.

Officials said that the system is expected to strengthen further and progress in a northwesterly to northerly direction and cross Andhra coast between Ongole and Visakhapatnam by the early hours of tomorrow, reports said.

They said that Cautionary signal No 7 (the highest intensity) was hoisted in Kalingapattinam, Gangavaram, Kakinada, Visakapattinam, and Machillipattinam ports in Andhra Pradesh and No 3 (medium intensity) at all ports in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, said reports.

Due to the influence of the system, widespread rainfall with scattered heavy to very heavy falls (25 cms or more) and isolated extremely heavy falls are expected in the next 48 hours in north Tamil Nadu and coastal Andhra Pradesh, reports said.

(Based on internet reports)