Cloudburst in Pamban triggers torrential downpour

Nearly 19 cm of rainfall was recorded in Pamban weather station within three hours on Wednesday afternoon.

Torrential rain pounded Ramanathapuram district on Wednesday afternoon. Within three hours, nearly 19 cm of rainfall was recorded in Pamban weather station. The Regional Meteorological Centre, Chennai, has confirmed the extreme event as a cloudburst.

With some of the south coastal Tamil Nadu and delta districts receiving heavy rainfall for six days now, the RMC has upgraded and issued red alert, indicating possibility of extremely heavy rainfall to occur in Ramanathapuram, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam and Karaikal till 8.30 a.m. on Thursday.

Pamban in Ramanathapuram logged in a whopping 28 cm of rainfall by 5.30 p.m. on Wednesday. Some of the other weather stations that recorded a heavy rainfall include Nagapattinam and Karaikal (9 cm each).

S.Balachandran, Additional Director General of Meteorology, Chennai, said the weather station in Pamban received 10 cm of rainfall between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. Cloudbursts are characterised by sudden, intense rainfall exceeding 10 cm/hour over a limited geographical area. Formation of strong cloud cover can lead to a cloudburst and cause intense and short rain spell.

The upper air circulation over Comorin area influenced heavy rainfall over south coastal and delta districts. A weather system over Arabian sea too aided the wet spell and kept northeast monsoon vigorous over south Tamil Nadu, he said.

The RMC has also predicted very heavy rainfall in isolated places of Tirunelveli and Kanniyakumari districts and heavy rainfall for delta districts till Thursday morning.

A new weather system is being tracked to revive rainfall over coastal Tamil Nadu. The RMC has forecast rainfall to be intense in delta districts on November 25 and November 26. Some parts of north Tamil Nadu may receive heavy rainfall on November 26.

Published - November 20, 2024 08:21 pm IST