The India Meteorological Department on Thursday issued a red alert for Tamil Nadu and Puducherry on April 30 and predicted rainfall at most places. The weather department said a well-marked low pressure area is likely to intensify into a depression during the next 24 hours and into a cyclonic storm in the subsequent 24 hours over the southwest Bay of Bengal and adjoining equatorial Indian Ocean.

The department advised fishermen against venturing out to sea in the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal areas until April 30. “It [the cyclone] is very likely to move northwestwards along and off the east coast of Sri Lanka near north Tamil Nadu coast on April 30,” the department said.

Weather officials have forecast rain for Kerala and parts of south coastal Andhra Pradesh until May 1. The statement said that sea conditions will intensify from rough to very rough and high between April 26 and 30.

S Balachandran, the India Meteorological Department’s Chennai regional director, told Hindustan Times that they are monitoring the low pressure area system. “Only on April 27 can we predict when and where the cyclone will make landfall,” Balachandran said.

Weather forecast website Skymet said the cyclone will be named Fani.

In November 2018, Cyclone Gaja made landfall in Nagapattinam’s Vedaranyam block and killed around 46 people.