As cyclonic storm Burevi approaches the southern coast of India, the Met department on Wednesday issued red alert (over 20 cms of rain in 24 hours) for December 3 in four districts of Kerala, including Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha and orange alert (6 cm to 20 cm rain) for Kottayam, Ernakulam, Idukki districts.
Burevi is expected to cross the south Tamil Nadu coast amidst Pamban and Kanniyakumari between December 3 and December 4 with a wind speed of 70-80 kmph, gusting at 90 kmph, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Wednesday.
In a weather bulletin, the IMD said Burevi, over southwest Bay of Bengal, moved west-northwestwards with a speed of 25 kmph during past six hours and lay centred, as at 11.30 am, about 140 km east of Trincomalee (Sri Lanka), 370 km east-southeast of Pamban (India) and 550 km nearly east-northeast of Kanniyakumari (India).
It is very likely to cross Trincomalee coast of Sri Lanka on the night of December 2. The island nation evacuated 75,000 people from homes on the east coast as tropical cyclone Burevi barrels towards it packing winds of 80 kph to 90 kph (50 mph to 56 mph).
According to the IMD, on December 3 noon, Burevi will be centred close to Pamban.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to chief ministers K Palaniswami and Pinarayi Vijayan and assured of all possible support from Centre.
Spoke to Kerala CM Shri @vijayanpinarayi Ji on the conditions prevailing due to Cyclonic Storm Burevi in the state. Assured all possible support from the Centre to help Kerala. Praying for the safety and well-being of those staying in the affected areas.— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 2, 2020
Authorities in Kerala opened 2,849 relief camps and banned fishing along the coast for the next three days as they geared up to deal with cyclonic storm Burevi, which is expected to make landfall in the state by December 4. According to the IMD, it is likely to bring heavy rains and winds to the seven southern districts of Kerala from December 3 to 5.
Eight teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have already reached the state, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said.
The IMD also warned of squally weather, with wind speed reaching 45-55 kmph and gusting to 65 kmph, over Ramanathapuram, Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari districts of Tamil Nadu on Wednesday. Similarly for Thursday and Friday, it has warned of squally weather with wind speed, reaching 70-80 kmph and gusting to 90 kmph, in the four districts.
Meanwhile, teams from National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been sent to Kanniyakumari, Tuticorin, Tirunelveli and Madurai, the state government has said. In Nagercoil, relief camps are being set up.
The Tamil Nadu chief minister on Tuesday said all precautionary measures are in place to minimise the possible damage that could be caused by the weather system and urged people to stay indoors. The chief minister appealed to people, particularly those in the southern districts, not to step out unnecessarily between December 1 and 4.
The chief minister directed the monitoring officials of districts including Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli and Tuticorin to oversee the precautionary measures there. Palaniswami, who chaired a high-level meeting to assess the cyclone’s impending impact, called upon the public not to panic over the new cyclonic storm as all precautionary measures have been taken on war-footing.
Earlier, cyclone Nivar had crossed the coast between Tamil Nadu and Puducherry on November 26.
With inputs from PTI and IANS
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