School Holiday: Schools and colleges in Puducherry and Karaikal to remain closed on Oct 22 due to heavy rain warning

Schools and colleges in Puducherry and Karaikal will remain closed tomorrow, 22 October, due to warnings of heavy rainfall in the region.

The RMC has issued orange alert for seven coastal and delta districts, including Ramanathapuram, Cuddalore and Thanjavur and Puducherry, till 8:30 am, Wednesday.

"A low pressure area has formed over the southwest Bay of Bengal and is expected to intensify into a depression tomorrow afternoon and move towards the Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and South Andhra Pradesh coasts. The system is unlikely to have a direct impact on Odisha, but rainfall activity is likely to occur over the state for the next seven days. Light to moderate rain with thunderstorms, lightning and gusty winds (30-40 km/hr) is expected at isolated places in many districts," IMD Bhubaneswar Director Manorama Mohanty told ANI.

A Namassivayam, Puducherry's Education Minister, said in this regard: "Due to heavy rains pounding the union territory, all schools and colleges in Puducherry and Karaikal regions will remain closed on Wednesday."

Minister for Fisheries and Fishermen Welfare of Puducherry, K Lakshminarayanan, convened a meeting with officials from the Public Works Department, revenue, as well as local administrations to prepare all state machinery to respond swiftly to any emergency situation.

What the weather department said

B Amudha, Director of Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) Chennai, has said that a low-pressure area has formed in the Bay of Bengal, around 400 km off the coast of Chennai.

"By noon tomorrow, there is a possibility that the system will strengthen into a Depression. This is expected to occur off the coasts of north Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and south Andhra Pradesh," said Amudha, as per PTI.

On October 22, extremely heavy rain is expected in four districts of Tamil Nadu— Chengalpattu, Villupuram, Cuddalore and Mayiladuthurai — along with Karaikal and Puducherry.

She has also cautioned farmers against venturing out into the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and South Andaman Sea from 23 October 23 to 26 October.

Amudha said that Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal have recorded 59 per cent more rainfall than usual in the time period between 1 October to 21 October.

Tamil Nadu government gears up

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin has asked district collectors in a video conference to keep relief measures ready in case of emergencies.

As per an official statement, Stalin wants arrangements for food, drinking water, and medicine to be ready.

He has also advised that JCB machines, boats, motor pumps, trucks and saws be kept ready to mitigate the rain-induced damages, if any.