Cyclone Ditwah’s rain bands reach Tamil Nadu, prompting heavy rainfall alerts.
Sri Lanka reports 56 fatalities from floods, landslides caused by the cyclone.
IMD forecasts storm to move north, affecting Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry and Kerala.
The rain bands of Cyclone Ditwah reached southern Tamil Nadu on the morning of November 28, causing rain. At the same time, the cyclone was still causing extremely heavy rainfall, flash floods and landslides in Sri Lanka. The severe conditions have claimed about 56 lives in Sri Lanka, according to The New York Times.
The India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) stated that that the cyclone lay 40 km southwest of Trincomalee in Sri Lanka and 320 km south-southeast of Karaikal in Tamil Nadu on the morning of November 28.
31 October 2025
Get the latest issue of Outlook Business
IMD has forecast heavy rainfall on November 29 and 30, in the southern and delta districts, ahead of Cyclone Ditwah in the Bay of Bengal. The met department further predicted that the storm is expected to move north-northwestwards across the Sri Lanka coast and adjoining southwest Bay of Bengal and reach the north Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and south Andhra Pradesh coasts by the morning of November 30.
The weather agency also put out alerts for heavy rains over Rayalaseema, coastal Andhra Pradesh, Yanam, Kerala, Mahe, Telangana and south interior Karnataka from the remnants of the storm in the coming days.
Heavy Rainfall Forecast
The IMD’s Regional Meteorological Centre in Chennai issued a three-hour yellow alert for several districts in Tamil Nadu on November 28, reported Hindustan Times.
According to PTI, Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian on November 28 said the health department has been instructed to ensure medical teams are available round the clock in all government hospitals, in view of the heavy rainfall forecast by the IMD.
Subramanian said that if fever-related cases are reported among more than two persons in a particular area, the health department has been directed to organise special medical camps in that region.
"Steps have also been taken to ensure uninterrupted power supply in all hospitals in view of the heavy rainfall," Subramanian told reporters.
Recalling previous instances of hospital flooding during even short spells of rain in Avinashi (Coimbatore) and Royapettah (Chennai), he said the situation today is under control as infrastructure in over 14,000 hospitals has been upgraded.
"Continuous monitoring is also being carried out to ensure waterlogging is not reported in any hospital," he added.
(With inputs from PTI.)
