Cyclone Ditwah on Sunday weakened into a deep depression as it lay centred over the southwest Bay of Bengal within a minimum distance of 30 km from the coasts of North Tamil Nadu and Puducherry by the morning of December 1, the India Meteorological Department said.
The weather office has predicted heavy to very heavy rain at a few places over Tiruvallur, Ranipet, Kancheepuram, Chennai, Chengalpattu and Vellore districts on Monday. Heavy rain is likely to occur at isolated places over Tirupathur, Tiruvannamalai, Villupuram districts and Puducherry, it said.
Strong winds with speeds of up to 60-70 kmph, gusting to 80 kmph, are also likely over the north coastal areas of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, as well as the south coastal Karaikal area. At least three people have lost their lives in rain-related incidents in Tamil Nadu, caused by CycloneDitwah, according to state revenue and disaster management minister KKSSR Ramachandran.
Before heading toward India’s coast, the cyclonic storm caused massive devastation in Sri Lanka, which lay on the path of the storm, killing at least 334 people and leaving nearly 370 missing. About 20,000 homes had been destroyed and over 100,000 people have been moved to government shelters in the Island nation.
The Indian Air Force has intensified its efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka under Operation Sagar Bandhu. It has also brought back more than 400 stranded Indians from Colombo in two transport aircraft, according to PTI.
According to M Mohapatra, director general of the India Meteorological Department, Cyclone Ditwah is not likely to cross the Indian coast but pass offshore. These wind speeds are not that high but they can have large-scale impact on standing crops. There can be inundation of low lying areas,” he said.
The name ‘Ditwah’ suggested by Yemen, refers to a lagoon and likely comes from Detwah Lagoon, a large saline lagoon on Socotra’s northwest coast.
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