Barely recovering from last week’s devastating floods, southern states are staring at another weather onslaught as a low-pressure area over the southwest Bay of Bengal rapidly intensifies into cyclonic storm ‘Senyar’, prompting the India Meteorological Department (IMD) to issue heavy to very heavy rainfall alerts from Thursday.
The system, currently concentrated over the southeast Bay and adjoining south Andaman Sea, is likely to move west-northwest and reach near the Tamil Nadu-Sri Lanka coast by November 29-30. Fishermen have been strictly warned not to venture into the sea till December 1.
Tamil Nadu’s delta districts — Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Mayiladuthurai— and Chennai, Tiruvallur, and Kancheepuram remain on edge with orange alerts for November 28-29. Extremely heavy rain (>20 cm) is forecast at isolated places, raising fresh flood fears in already waterlogged areas. Kerala’s southern districts and coastal Andhra Pradesh too are under yellow watch.
Chief Minister M K Stalin held an emergency review, directing district collectors to keep relief camps ready and NDRF/SDRF teams on standby. “We cannot afford complacency after the recent tragedy,” he said. Schools in eight coastal districts have declared a holiday on Thursday as a precaution.
Meanwhile, holiday-goers in Kodaikanal and Ooty are being asked to leave hill stations before roads turn treacherous. With the northeast monsoon refusing to relent, the looming cyclone has turned South India’s weather narrative from relief to renewed anxiety.