Cyclone Fengal is forming over the Bay of Bengal and may intensify into a storm soon. The Indian Navy is ready to assist vulnerable areas in Tamil Nadu, as the cyclone approaches the coast, with landfall expected near Chennai or Puducherry.

The India Meteorological Department on Thursday said the deep depression in the southwest Bay of Bengal is likely to intensify into a cyclonic storm by morning of November 29. The deep depression has brought heavy rains to parts of Tamil Nadu,

A deep depression in the Bay of Bengal is intensifying and expected to become a cyclonic storm, named Fengal, by November 27. It's currently southeast of Trincomalee, Sri Lanka, and moving towards the Tamil Nadu coast.

The deep depression lay about 310 km southeast of Trincomalee, 590 km south-southeast of Nagappattinam, 710 km south-southeast of Puducherry and 800 km south-southeast of Chennai

Moving north-northwestwards at 12 km/h, the storm system is expected to bypass Sri Lanka’s coast and approach Tamil Nadu within the next two days. However, slightly cooler sea surface temperatures closer to the coastline could weaken the system marginally before landfall.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the depression in the southeast Bay of Bengal and the adjoining East Equatorial Indian Ocean will turn into a deep depression in the next 24 hours.

The Regional Meteorological Centre, Chennai said the depression over southwest Bay of Bengal has now intensified into a deep depression, and that it may intensify further into cyclone Fengal on November 27,

The latest bulletin from the IMD suggests that this depression is likely to intensify into a deep depression within the next 24 hours.