The heavy downpours continued to trouble Tamil Nadu’s Chennai throughout Wednesday, November 17. The city on Wednesday night received 2 cm of rainfall. Schools and colleges in Chennai, Tiruvallur, Kanchipuram, Ranipet, Dindugal, Pudhukottai, Theni, Vellore, Ariyallur, Nagapattinam, Villupura, Thiruvarur, Mayiladudhurai, Kallakurichi, Cuddalore, Villipuram, Thanjavur, and Dharmapuri will remain shut on Thursday.

Salem, Trichy, and Thiruvanamallai have declared a holiday only for schools.

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A war room has been set up at Chennai Corporation where the civic body’s officials are monitoring the red alert situation because of heavy rain.

A thunderstorm with heavy to very heavy with isolated extremely heavy rainfall is likely in Tiruvallur, Chennai, Kancheepuram and Ranipettai districts of Tamil Nadu on Thursday, according to the Regional Meteorological Centre’s forecast. On the same day, heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely to occur at isolated places in Tiruvannamalai, Villupuram, Cuddalore, Chengalpattu, Tirupattur and Vellore districts.

S Balachandran, Southern regional head for India Meteorological Department, on Wednesday forecast extremely heavy rainfall for Chennai, Tiruvallur, Kanchipuram, and Chengalpattu on Thursday.

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“There is a low-pressure area in the Bay of Bengal. It is moving towards us and there is a low-pressure area in the Arabian Sea as well. Under the influence of the two systems in the east and the west, there will be heavy rainfall,” he said.

Fishermen have been warned not to venture out into the sea.

The general public should follow all advised safety measures and refrain from stepping out unnecessarily. The weather department has advised people to store adequate drinking water.

Rainfall in several parts of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and Karaikkal is expected till November 21