The very severe cyclonic storm Nivar has begun its landfall close to the Puducherry coast and its centre will cross the coast near the Union Territory in three hours time, the India Meteorological Department said on late Wednesday.
In its bulletin issued at 10.30 p.m., the IMD said the cyclone Nivar is to cross the coast close to Puducherry in three hours time with a wind speed of 120-130 kmph gusting at 145 kmph.
The cyclone was centered 50 km east of Cuddalore, 40 km southeast of Puducherry and 120 km southeast of Chennai.
The cyclone, moving at a speed of 16 kmph for the past six hours, is being monitored by the Doppler Weather Radars at Chennai, Karaikal and Sriharikota.
Even after landfall, the system is likely to maintain its cyclone intensity for about six hours and weaken gradually.
The sea along the coast is very rough with huge waves hitting the shores.
Under its influence, rainfall, with heavy to very heavy rainfalls at a few places and isolated extremely heavy falls, is likely to occur over Ranipet, Tiruvannamalai, Tirupattur, Vellore districts of Tamil Nadu and Chittoor, Kurnool, Prakasam and Cuddappa districts of Andhra Pradesh.
Gale wind speed reaching 65-75 kmph gusting to 85 kmph very likely to prevail over Ranipet, Tiruvannamalai, Tirupattur, and Vellore, as well as Chittoor from early morning to forenoon on Thursday, the Met Department said.
Like Tamil Nadu, the Puducherry government too has announced Thursday as a public holiday.
A total of 25 teams from National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been deployed on the coastal areas of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Andhra Pradesh.IANS