Summary:
CHENNAI: Nearly a month after Cyclone Gaja made landfall near Vedaranyam, another storm is brewing over Bay of Bengal and may bring heavy rain to north coastal Tamil Nadu including Chennai this weekend. “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. Northern parts of Tamil Nadu and Chennai can expect heavy rainfall,” he said.Weather blogger Pradeep John recalled the time in 2010 when the intense spell in Chennai lasted only a day as Cyclone Laila made landfall near Machilipatnam. The system which is now a deep depression, India Meteorological Department (IMD) said, is likely to intensify into a tropical cyclone by Friday and move in a northwesterly direction towards Andhra Pradesh and north Tamil Nadu. “Though rain may pound Chennai if the cyclone makes landfall near Nellore or Kavali in South Andhra Pradesh, as predicted earlier, the present one is also expected to come close to Chennai and then move up..