Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin called on officials to implement necessary precautionary measures in response to the Regional Meteorological Centre's prediction of heavy rains over the next two days in the wake of Cyclone Michaung. During a meeting with senior officials from revenue, municipal administration, and police departments at the secretariat, the chief minister emphasized the need for coordinated efforts to safeguard human lives. In Puducherry, Karaikal and Yanam, the administrations have declared a rain holiday for schools on December 4.
According to a special bulletin by India Meteorological Department on Saturday, “Depression intensified into Deep Depression over Southwest Bay of Bengal (Pre-Cyclone Watch for Andhra Pradesh and North Tamil Nadu-Puducherry Coasts: Yellow Message).”
“The depression over Southwest Bay of Bengal moved west-northwestwards with a speed of 18 kmph during past 06 hours, intensified into a deep depression and lay centered at 0530 hours IST of today, the 2nd December, 2023 over the same region near Latitude 10.5°N and Longitude 84.1°E, about 500 km east-southeast of Puducherry, 510 km east-southeast of Chennai, 630 km southeast of Nellore, 710 km south-southeast of Bapatla and 710 km south-southeast of Machilipatnam,” it said.
The IMD said, the depression is expected to move west-northwestwards and intensify into a Cyclonic Storm over Southwest Bay of Bengal during the next 24 hours.
“Thereafter, it would move northwestwards and reach westcentral Bay of Bengal off south Andhra Pradesh and adjoining north Tamilnadu coasts by 4th December forenoon,” it said.
Stalin Conducts Review Meeting
In response to the IMD's yellow alert, predicting rainfall between 6-11 cm, the chief minister conducted a review meeting with district collectors. Stalin issued guidelines for Northeast Monsoon preparedness, emphasizing effective handling of potential cyclonic storm impacts with minimal public inconvenience. He urged officials to coordinate precautionary measures and communicate district-specific needs to local ministers, the chief secretary, or department heads.
The meeting was attended by Revenue Minister K K S S R Ramachandran, Chief Secretary Shiv Das Meena, Additional Chief Secretary (Revenue) S K Prabhakar and Greater Chennai Corporation Commissioner J Radhakrishnan.