Chennai (Tamil Nadu) : With the onset of northeast monsoon, a heavy downpour is witnessed across several districts in Tamil Nadu. The Indian Meteorological Department issued an 'orange alert' in several districts due to the heavy rains battering the state.

Schools have been shut in nine districts namely, Chennai, Kanyakumari, Tenkasi, Theni, Madhurai, Tirunelveli, Dindukkal, Sivagangai and Nellai for one day due to the bad weather conditions predicted by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) on 4th and 5th November.

Northeast Monsoon onset intensified in Tamil Nadu with South Districts receiving heavy to very heavy rainfall. The Metrology Department has predicted moderate rainfall to continue over isolated places in Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry and Karaikkal for the next six days.

Chennai Regional Metrology Department has issued a heavy rainfall forecast for the South Districts and parts of the western Ghats districts for next three days.

Isolated places in districts such as Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli, Tenkasi, Theni and Dindigul, Virudhunagar, Madurai, Sivaganga, Pudukkottai, Tiruppur, Coimbatore, Nilgiris, Erode, Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Thoothukudi and Ramanathapuram are likely to receive heavy rainfall in coming three days.

The MET Department said that Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu recorded 8 cm rainfall while Annamalai Nagar, Manjolai, Radhapuram, Kakkachi recorded 7 cm rainfall over the last 24 hours.

Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal have been asked to prepare for isolated Heavy to Very heavy rainfall (115.6 to 204.4 mm) on November 4.

District Collectors have declared a holiday for schools today due to heavy rainfall in Tenkasi, Tirunelveli and Kanniyakumari districts.

The Northeast monsoon is the counterpart of the southwest monsoon and usually occurs between October to December and is comparatively smaller-scale version of the southwest monsoon. It is also known as the winter monsoon and is specially confined to the Southern peninsula. Tamil Nadu receives about 48 per cent of its Annual rainfall during he northeast monsoons.