Thiruvananthapuram: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has advised fishermen not to venture out into deep sea off Sri Lanka, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, and south Andhra Pradesh coasts till May 1.
Those who are out in deep sea areas were advised to return to the coast by Sunday.
The IMD has forecast light to moderate rainfall at many places with heavy falls at isolated places over the state on Monday and Tuesday. Thunderstorm accompanied with gusty winds and lightning at isolated places is likely from Sunday to Tuesday.
Light to moderate rainfall was likely at a few places over north coastal Tamil Nadu and coastal Andhra Pradesh on April 30 and May 1. Besides squally winds that were likely to become gale gusting up to a maximum of 145 kmph in the next two days in the equatorial Indian Ocean and adjoining southwest Bay of Bengal, the sea condition was also rough to very rough in these areas, it said. Deep depression over the southeast Bay of Bengal intensified into a cyclonic storm Fani over the southeast Bay of Bengal and lay centred about 1,190 km southeast of Chennai at 11.30 a.m. on Saturday and is likely to intensify into a severe cyclonic storm in the next 24 hours.
It will move northwestwards and reach near north Tamil Nadu and south Andhra Pradesh coasts on April 30.
However, there was "little chance" of the storm crossing the Tamil Nadu coast as of now but the system was being monitored, the IMD said.
