Powerful tropical cyclonic storm ‘Phethai’, brewing in the Bay of Bengal, may give Tamil Nadu a miss and head towards Andhra Pradesh, but Chennai and neighbouring coastal districts are likely to get heavy rain starting Sunday.
As India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Thursday declared the formation of a cyclone by Friday, alarm bells started ringing in south Andhra and north coastal TN as the forecast showed the storm intensifying into a severe cyclone generating sustained surface winds of 120 kmph — enough to inflict damage on the scale of Cyclone ‘Gaja’.
Union Ministry of Earth Science said in a statement, “It is very likely to intensify further into a deep depression during the next 12 hours and into a cyclonic storm during the subsequent 24 hours. It is very likely to move northwestwards towards Andhra Pradesh and adjoining north Tamil Nadu coast during next 72 hours.”