Remnant of Cyclone Ditwah continues to batter north Tamil Nadu

For the third consecutive day, the remnant of Cyclone Ditwah, which has now weakened into a well-marked low pressure area, continued to batter Chennai and Tiruvallur districts on Wednesday (December 3, 2025). The weather system is likely to bring rainfall to areas along its path as it moves inland.

With the system moving slowly inland, the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC), Chennai, has issued an orange alert in north Tamil Nadu districts, including Chennai, Kancheepuram, Ranipet, and Tiruvallur, as well as two districts along the Ghat areas, indicating very heavy rainfall on Wednesday.

Follow live updates on Cyclone Ditwah here.

The Nilgiris and the Ghat areas of Coimbatore, too, are likely to receive very heavy rainfall up to 20.4 cm. A total of 18 districts, including Vellore and Tiruvannamalai, and those along the Ghat areas, and adjoining districts such as Madurai and Virudhunagar, have also been issued a yellow alert, indicating heavy rainfall up to 11.5 cm.

The well-marked low pressure area is likely to move southwestwards slowly across north coastal Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and weaken further into a low pressure area by Thursday (December 4, 2025).

During the past 24 hours ending 8.30 a.m. on Wednesday, Ennore and Hindustan University received heavy rainfall of 15 cm each. Chetpet in Tiruvannamalai district received 13 cm of rainfall. Several other places in Chennai and other districts such as Pudukottai, Thanjavur, Kallakurichi, and Villupuram also received moderate to heavy rainfall.

Heavy showers continued in Chennai and neighbouring districts on Wednesday, prompting the Water Resources Department (WRD) to open shutters of Poondi and Chembarambakkam reservoirs to release 200 cubic feet of water per second, anticipating heavy inflow. Water discharge from Red Hills reservoir has been increased to 500 cusecs to maintain a flood buffer space.

The RMC has predicted heavy rainfall to continue in Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, and Tirupathur, and south coastal districts like Thoothukudi, Kanniyakumari, and Ramanathapuram on Thursday.