Chennai/UNI: The severe cyclonic storm 'Mandous' pronounced as 'Man-Dous' over the Southwest Bay will weaken in the next three hours and cross the coast between Puducherry and Sriharikota near the tourist spot of Mahabalipuram by midnight tonight of early tomorrow morning.

The met office has issued a Red Alert for Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu and Villupuram districts of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry which will get heavy to very heavy rain with extremely heavy falls at one or two places today and an Orange code alert for North Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and South Andhra Pradesh coasts.

In view of the heavy rain forecast, schools and colleges have been declared a holiday for the day in more than 15 districts, even as the State Government has put its entire machinery on alert to tackle any exigency.

Met office sources on Friday said the severe Cyclonic Storm over the Southwest Bay of Bengal moved west-northwestwards with a speed of 13 kmph during the past 6 hours and lay centered about 270 km north-northeast of Trincomalee (Sri Lanka), 230 km east-northeast of Jaffna (Sri Lanka), 200 km east of Karaikal and about 270 km south-southeast of Chennai.

It is very likely to weaken into a cyclonic storm during the next 3 hours and would move nearly northwestwards and cross the north Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and adjoining south AP coasts between Puducherry and Sriharikota around Mahabalipuram as a cyclonic storm with a maximum sustained wind speed of 65-75 kmph and gusting to 85 kmph during midnight of today to early hours of tomorrow.