Cyclone Mandous, which is 250 km away from south- southeast of Chennai, has weakened gradually into a cyclonic storm, as per the Regional Meteorological Center (RMC) on Friday.
North coastal Tamil Nadu is likely to get heavy to very heavy rain today.
It would continue to move west-northwestwards and cross north Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and adjoining the south Andhra Pradesh coast between Puducherry and Sriharikota around Mahabalipuram as a cyclonic storm.
The centre predicted moderate rain for many places in the State such as Villupuram, Cuddalore, Mayiladuthurai, Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur, Thanjavur, Pudukkottai, Ramanathapuram, Thoothukudi, Thirunelveli and Kanniyakumari districts.