A low pressure area prevailing in the southwest Bay of Bengal has been causing heavy rainfall in parts of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, including Chennai, and the inclement weather will continue for the next two to three days. It has been raining intermittently in parts of both states since Monday. According to Skymet, the two southern states will continue receiving moderate rain with thundershowers till May 19.

In Chennai, weather officials said the city received 67 mm of rain between 8.30 am on Monday and 8.30 am on Tuesday, the highest for a day in the month of May since 2010.

According to the Met department, the depression has moved slightly north towards Sri Lanka, adjoining Gulf of Mannar and southwest Bay of Bengal. The prediction says that it might move further north-northwest, towards the north of the Tamil Nadu coast (around Chennai). The depression is also expected to deepen during the course, thus bringing heavy rainfall in and around the southern capital.

Parts of Tamil Nadu were devastated by floods caused by heavy rainfall in December 2015.