Widespread rains in TN ahead of Cyclone Mandous landfall

Chennai: Several parts of Tamil Nadu witnessed light to moderate rainfall and some places heavy showers as the cyclonic storm 'Mandous' continued to move closer to the State's coastline, and it is set to cross coast near here starting midnight, the India Meteorological Department said on Friday.

Under its influence, several areas here witnessed heavy rainfall and it was light to moderate in other regions.

The IMD said Doppler weather radars are monitoring the cyclone which weakened into a cyclonic storm on December 9 and lay at about 260 km southsoutheast of Chennai. Mandous, pronounced 'man-dous' is an Arabic word and it means treasure box.

The cyclonic storm is very likely to cross north Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and adjoining south Andhra Pradesh coasts.