Chennai, October 25 — A red alert has been issued for Theni, Dindigul and Madurai districts, with the Regional Meteorological Centre forecasting extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places on Sunday as the northeast monsoon remains vigorous over Tamil Nadu, IANS reported.

Source: IANS via hi INDiA

The three districts could receive more than 20 centimetres of rain at one or two locations, accompanied by thunderstorms, lightning and strong winds. The IMD forecast carried by Latestly gives the same warning for Sunday: isolated extremely heavy rainfall in Theni, Dindigul and Madurai, and heavy to very heavy rain across the delta, central and western districts.

Source: IMD via Latestly

An orange alert has also been issued for Cuddalore, Mayiladuthurai, Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur, Thanjavur, Pudukkottai, Ariyalur, Perambalur, Tiruchi, Karur, the Nilgiris, Coimbatore, Tiruppur and Sivaganga districts, besides the Karaikal region, where heavy to very heavy rainfall with thunder and lightning is likely.

The Nilgiris recorded exceptionally heavy rainfall in the 24 hours ending at 8.30 a.m. on Saturday — Burliar registered 25 cm, followed by Lower Kotagiri Estate with 20 cm and Coonoor with 17 cm, according to the weather department.

Meanwhile, the low-pressure area over the east-central and adjoining southeast Bay of Bengal intensified into a well-marked low and then a depression on Saturday. It is expected to move west-northwestwards, strengthen into a deep depression on Sunday and possibly a cyclonic storm over the west-central Bay of Bengal by Monday morning, reaching off the Andhra Pradesh coast by the morning of October 28. Fishermen have separately been barred from venturing into the sea for five days, until October 29, IANS reported.