The IMD has issued a yellow alert for several Tamil Nadu districts ahead of Cyclone Ditwah’s arrival, predicting light to moderate rain. The storm is moving towards the coast, prompting the precautionary deployment of eight NDRF teams.
Ahead of Cyclonic Storm Ditwah’s arrival, the IMD Regional Meteorological Centre in Chennai issued a yellow alert for multiple districts in Tamil Nadu for the next three hours on Friday. According to the Chennai MeT Department, isolated places in Pudukkottai, Ramanathapuram, Thoothukkudi, Tirunelveli, Kanyakumari, Tenkasi, Thanjavur, Thiruvarur, Nagapattinam districts and Karaikal are expected to be affected under the yellow alert, indicating the likelihood of light to moderate rainfall accompanied by thunderstorms and lightning.
Cyclone Ditwah’s Path and Forecast
Today, the Meteorological Department in Chennai stated that Cyclonic Storm Ditwah, which is centred over coastal Sri Lanka and the adjoining southwest Bay of Bengal, has moved north-northwestwards at a speed of 10 kmph since the past six hours. According to the Chennai Met Department, Cyclonic Storm Ditwah remained centred at 8:30 am (IST) over the same region, near a latitude of 8.3°N and a longitude of 81.0°E.
The Chennai Met Department said that it is very likely to continue moving north-northwestwards across the Sri Lanka coast & adjoining southwest Bay of Bengal, and reach the southwest Bay of Bengal near North Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and adjoining south Andhra Pradesh coasts by early morning of November 30th.
NDRF Deploys Precautionary Teams
Earlier, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) had deployed teams across several districts in Tamil Nadu to carry out precautionary measures amid heavy rainfall, following requests from the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry State Disaster Management Authorities. Each NDRF team consists of 30 personnel, with a total of eight teams being deployed across the designated districts. Puducherry will receive two teams (60 personnel), while Thanjavur, Nagapattinam, Mayiladuthurai, Pudukkottai, Cuddalore, and Tiruvarur will each have one team stationed for precautionary operations.
Search Dog Unit Included in Deployment
Additionally, the deployment also includes the Search Dog Unit, featuring four trained sniffer dogs: Rani, Mickey, Laika, and Rambo. These dogs assist rescuers during disasters by helping locate and save people trapped under debris.
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