Cyclone Gaja to make landfall between Chennai, Nagapattinam on Thursday; fishermen advised not to venture out until then

The director of India Meteorological Department (IMD), Chennai on Monday said that cyclonic storm Gaja is expected to make landfall somewhere between Chennai and Nagapattinam before noon on Thursday. He advised the fishermen not to venture out to sea till Thursday as the sea would be very rough. The cyclone currently lies at 820 kilometres northeast of Nagapattinam. Moving at a speed of 12 kilometres per hour is likely to intensify into a ‘severe cyclonic storm’ within the next 24 hours, a bulletin issued at 4 pm on Sunday said. Speaking to reporters, Area Cyclone Warning Centre Director S Balachandran told PTI that coastal areas of north Tamil Nadu would experience moderate rainfall and heavy rainfall in isolated places from Wednesday night onwards. [caption id=“attachment_5536651” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Satellite image of cyclone Gaja. IMD[/caption] “On 15 November, many places will receive moderate rainfall and isolated places will get heavy rainfall.” Fishermen have been advised not to venture into the sea from Monday and those already in deep sea have been asked to return. IMD, however, said the storm is likely to weaken gradually while crossing towards north Tamil Nadu and south Andhra Pradesh coasts as a ‘cyclonic storm’ before noon on Thursday. Bengaluru and other places in south interior Karnataka are also expected to receive showers from Thursday, reported Times of India. Listing out measures taken to face the cyclone, Revenue Administration Commissioner K Satyagopal told reporters in Tirunelveli that medical teams were on standby in all districts. Tamil Nadu chief secretary Girija Vaidyanathan is reportedly meeting with officials from National Disaster Management Authority, National Disaster Response Force, and the state Revenue and Disaster Management Department on Monday to discuss cyclone preparedness, reported The News Minute. Gaja will be the second cyclone to hit the coastal area in a month after Cyclone Titli hit Odisha and Andhra Pradesh on 11 October, killing a total of 70 people.