Chennai, May 21 : Heavy rain was lashing southern and western regions of Tamil Nadu on Tuesday following which the state government deployed ten SDRF teams to meet any eventuality.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted heavy to very heavy fall for the next three days in these areas.

As the heavy rain continued, several areas in the southern region of the state faced waterlogging. SDRF and local people were jointly conducting the rescue operations to bring people to safety in low-lying areas.

People have been asked not to venture out to the beach areas.

Ramasamy (46), a businessman from Kanniyakumari told IANS that heavy rain was lashing the area and tourist inflow has been affected heavily.

The state disaster department has issued an alert for travelling in Kanniyakumari, Tirunelveli, Tenkasi, Dindigul, Coimbatore, the Nilgiris, Virudhunagar, and Theni districts.

According to the state disaster management department SMS alerts have been sent to 2.44 crore mobile phones in the above districts on the rain alerts through Common Alert Protocol.

Advisories have also been sent to tourists not to visit these destinations at present due to the heavy and very heavy rain prediction.

The heavy and very heavy rain is likely to continue for three more days in these regions and this is due to a cyclonic formation above these areas, said the IMD.

The Tamil Nadu Revenue Department has deployed 10 State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams in Kanniyakumari, Coimbatore, Tirunelveli, and Nilgiris districts. A total of 296 personnel are part of the SDRF teams that have reached these areas.

/IANS