The Port Department on Sunday hoisted the Distant Warning Signal No 2 at the Puducherry and Cuddalore ports indicating a distant cyclonic warning for the coast.
The flag was raised after the alert was sounded by the Meteorological Department in Chennai about the cyclonic storm ‘Gaja’ over eastcentral and adjoining westcentral and southeast Bay of Bengal.
According to a port official, the cyclonic storm, Gaja lay centred about 840 km east of Chennai and 880 km east of Nagapattinam.
The system is predicted to intensify into a severe cyclonic storm during the next 24 hours and will continue to move and cross north Tamil Nadu and south Andhra Pradesh coasts between Cuddalore and Sriharikota as a cyclonic storm during the forenoon of November 15.
In view of the cyclone alert, the National Emergency Response Centre (NERC) of the Disaster Management Division under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs on Sunday alerted State governments concerned.
