Cyclone Ditwah heads to Tamil Nadu

Landfall or near-landfall influence expected around Saturday, says weather department AP authorities have urged fisherfolk not to venture into the sea

- SV KRISHNA CHAITANYA @ Chennai

A deep depression over the southwest Bay of Bengal intensified into Cyclonic Storm, named Ditwah, as of Thursday 11:30 am, an update issued by the Regional Meteorological Centre here said.

The cyclone is moving steadily towards the north Tamil Nadu-Puducherry coast, setting the stage for a prolonged spell of heavy to extremely heavy rain along the coastline over the next three days. It's set to make landfall on Sunday morning. In its latest bulletin, the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC), Chennai, said Cyclone Ditwah is currently centered close east of Pottuvil in Sri Lanka — about 610 km south-southeast of Puducherry and 700 km south-southeast of Chennai.