IN Bureau

A red alert over heavy rainfall has been issued for five districts of Tamil Nadu by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) even as schools and colleges have been closed in 22 districts after several areas were flooded, officials said today.

The IMD has predicted 'heavy to extremely very heavy rainfall' in Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi, Ramanathapuram, Pudukottai and Nagapattinam districts of the state.

Following successive spells of rainfall, a holiday has been declared for schools and colleges in 22 districts including Thoothukudi, Kanniyakumari, Tirunelveli, Cuddalore, Tiruvarur, Tenkasi and Villupuram.

Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu received 25.9 cm of rain till 5:30 am this morning and water is reported to have entered several houses in the city.

Karaikal in Puducherry received 11.9 cm of rain. Educational institutions have been shut in Puducherry and Karaikal.