Chennai and other coastal districts of Tamil Nadu have been preparing to brace up for Cyclone Nivar, which will be hitting the shores as a cyclonic storm in the next couple of days during which several parts of the state will record heavy to extremely heavy rainfall. 

The meteorological department has issued a high alert to the state, which could witness the scale of rainfall of what it had witnessed five years back where the city was heavily inundated. According to reports, a low-pressure belt that formed over the Bay of Bengal is expected to turn into a cyclonic storm by Wednesday and will hit the shores of northern coastal districts of the state. 

The low-pressure area in the southwest and adjoining southeast areas of the Bay of Bengal will likely be formed as a depression on Monday and some of the areas would witness incessant rainfall from Monday till Thursday. Weather experts say that the depression would get intensified into a cyclonic storm over the next 48 hours and will cross between Karaikal and Mahabalipuram around the noon hours of November 25. 

The Meteorological department has spelled warning and pre-cyclone watch for the coastal areas of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and fishermen in these areas are asked not to venture into the sea until November 25. The bulletin from the department said that the fishermen are advised not to venture into the Equatorial Indian Ocean and adjoining central parts of South Bay of Bengal on 22 November, over southwest Bay of Bengal, Gulf of Mannar, and south coasts of Andhra Pradesh during November 22 to 25. 

The reports say that there will be incessant rainfall with a thunderstorm over Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and Karaikal between November 24 and 26. Areas in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana will also see high rainfall during this period. In line with the Meteorological department, the Tamil Nadu State Disaster Management Authority has issued weather updates to the state. 

Taking to Twitter, the state agency has said that Nagapattinam, Karaikal, Tiruvarur, and Thanjavur will witness heavy rains on Monday -November 23 and along with these districts, Pudukottai, Cuddalore, Perambalur, and Ariyalur will record heavy rainfall on Tuesday. 

On Tuesday, Chennai, Trichy, Kallakurichi, Ramanathapuram, Sivagangai, Villupuram, Kancheepuram, Thiruvallur, Ranipet, Thiruvannamalai, Tirupattur, and Vellore districts will also receive heavy to very heavy rainfall, and on Wednesday, the delta districts will continue recording extremely heavy rainfall along with the coastal stretch from Thiruvallur to Ramanathapuram. Along with these districts, parts of Trichy, Namakkal, Karur, Erode, Dharmapuri, Salem, Krishnagiri, Sivagangai, Vellore, and Chengalpattu will also record heavy to very heavy rainfall. 

On Thursday, the isolated places of Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Thirupathur, and Vellore districts will record heavy rainfall, according to the disaster management authority. S Balachandran, the deputy director-general of the regional meteorological center, Chennai said that rain will start in coastal districts on Monday and it will intensify gradually and Chennai city and suburbs will likely witness heavy rain on Tuesday.

The concerned district administrations and governments had passed orders and directives to deploy the relief and evacuation measures to rescue and evacuate people from the coastal areas. The Tamil Nadu state government has been working on the rescue drive as the cyclone nears the coast. 

While addressing the reporters on Monday, Tamil Nadu Minister for Fisheries D Jayakumar said that people don't have to fear or worry about the cyclone and the government has been taking necessary precautions and efforts. The minister stated that the fishermen are advised to evacuate to safe areas and not to venture into the sea and added that the fishermen who are already on the sea will be returning to the coast before the cyclone makes landfall.