The Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) has issued a yellow alert for the KTCC region - Kanchipuram, Tiruvallur, Chennai, and Chengalpattu - for Thursday.
In addition, heavy rains have been forecast for Tenkasi, The Nilgiris, Thiruvallur, Thoothukkudi, and Tirunelveli districts.
Weather blogger Chennai Rains noted in a post, "The WML over North TN is expected to weaken further and fade away in influence. With Westerlies prevailing at lower latitudes of Peninsular India there is a chance parts of Kanyakumari dt and adjoining South Kerala may see very heavy rains in a few places. Meanwhile most of TN may see substantial reduction in rains.
There is a slight chance some of the places to the NW of Chennai may come under intense thunderstorms from the west like SWM due to wind convergence. Meanwhile a watch is on for the next LPA over South Bay though we need to wait for the genesis to look at possible rainfall impact over Coastal TN."
Is It a Holiday for Schools Today?
In view of continuous heavy rainfall in several parts of the district, Dharmapuri District Collector Satish has declared a holiday for schools and anganwadis on October 23 as a precautionary measure.
The announcement follows an earlier order declaring a holiday for schools and colleges in 12 districts of Tamil Nadu on Wednesday due to the downpour. However, there is no official confirmation yet on holidays for other districts.
The two weather systems that were expected to bring widespread heavy rainfall to Tamil Nadu on October 22 failed to cause major impact, with rains reported only in isolated areas.
The well-marked low-pressure area over the Arabian Sea intensified into a depression on October 22, located about 1,010 km southwest of Goa's Panjim. Meanwhile, another well-marked low-pressure area in the Bay of Bengal, off the Tamil Nadu coast, which was expected to strengthen, remained weak.
"It will not intensify into a depression. It is sort of diffusing and will cross the coast as a well-marked low pressure," said an official from the RMC, Chennai. Still, under its influence, several parts of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry experienced rainfall.
Red Alert Scaled Down
The red alert issued earlier for eight districts was reduced to three - Chennai and its neighbouring districts, including Thiruvallur.
To manage any possible emergency, the Greater Chennai Corporation has set up 251 relief camps across the city. "22,000 personnel including officers, engineers, sanitation workers are on the field in Chennai for the north east monsoon," said an official from the corporation.