Chennai: After eight days of migrating northwards and back over the Bay of Bengal, cyclone Madi finally made landfall as depression at Thondi in RamanatÂhapuram at 10.30 pm on Thursday.
The depression earlier crossed land near Vedaranyam at 7 pm on Thursday before moving into the Palk Strait and entering land again. The weakened system later moved into Kerala and entered the Arabian Sea on Friday morning.
The unique inverted ‘V’ system brought good rainfall to the coastal districts of Tamil Nadu on ThurÂsday. For the 24-hour period ended 8.30 am on Friday, Colachel in Kanyakumari district, TindiÂvanam and KallakÂurichi in VillupÂuram district, Eraniel in KanyakÂumari district and CheyyÂur in KancÂheepuram district, recorded the highest rainfall in the state at 11 cm each.
Ulundurpet in VillupÂuram district and Virudhunagar recorded 9 cm rainfall each, followed by Attur in Salem district (8 cm). Tirumangalam and Madurai airport in MadÂurai district and VillupÂuram registered 7 cm each. In the city, NungÂambaÂkkam (0.9 cm) and Meenambakkam (0.01) recorded less than 1 cm rainfall.
However, the widespread rains received acrÂoss the state have brought down the overall mean raÂinfall deficit for the northeast monsoon to 28 per cent from Thursday’s 32 per cent. The state has recorded 29.2 cm rainfall compared to a normal of 40.7 cm for the period starting October 1 to December 13.
Met officials say that scattered rainfall is expected in the state for the next few days. “There are chances for rain in south TN due to some trough movements,” said S.R. Ramanan, director, Area Cyclone Warning Centre, Indian Meteorological DepartÂmeÂnt, ChÂennai.
