The Tamil Nadu government has declared a holiday on Wednesday for schools, colleges and government offices in Chennai, Thiruvallur, Chengalpattu and Kanchipuram districts amid heavy rainfall. Several parts of the state received heavy rain on Tuesday.

The Karnataka government also declared a one-day holiday for schools in Bengaluru in light of the weather. Puducherry announced that schools and colleges would remain closed on Wednesday in the Union territory and its town of Karaikal.

In a statement at 5 pm on Tuesday, the India Meteorological Department forecasted heavy to very heavy rainfall in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry on Wednesday. It also predicted extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places in the state and Union territory.

The weather department said that heavy to very heavy rainfall, with extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places, was likely in Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday. Kerala and Karnataka will see moderate rainfall, with heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places, till Thursday.

A low-pressure area over the southeastern Bay of Bengal was expected to move in the northwest direction on Tuesday, with the possibility of it intensifying into a depression, according to the India Meteorological Department.

The weather system would move further toward north Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and adjoining areas of southern Andhra Pradesh in the subsequent two days, it added.

Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin told reporters on Tuesday morning that about 5 cm of rainfall had been recorded in Chennai in the past 24 hours. Flooding had been reported in about 300 locations in the city and the water was being pumped out, the deputy chief minister said.

He said that 26 teams from the National Disaster Response Force and its state unit had been deployed in Chennai and Tamil Nadu’s coastal areas.

Several flights operating from the Chennai airport were cancelled on Tuesday due to heavy rainfall.