Heavy rainfall lashes Chennai, 15 distts as cyclone Mandous nears
The Chennai International Airport cancelled more than a dozen flights due to the cyclone, officials aware of the matter said.
Chennai: Chennai and 15 other districts in Tamil Nadu on Friday witnessed rainfall, heavy showers in some places, as the cyclonic storm “Mandous” continued to move further closer to the State’s coastline and is likely to make a landfall at midnight between Puducherry and Sriharikota around Mahabalipuram, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
Normal life was thrown out of gear. The Chennai International Airport cancelled more than a dozen flights due to the cyclone, officials aware of the matter said. The government decided not to operate public buses for two hours before and after the cyclone makes landfall, specifically in the districts of Chennai, Kancheepuram, Thiruvallur, Chengalpattu and Cuddalore. Schools in Chennai, Kancheepuram, Thiruvallur and Chengalpattu, which were shut on Friday, will continue to have a holiday on Saturday. All parks are closed in Chennai on Friday and Saturday for fear of tree falls.
By Friday evening at 5.30, Mandous over Southwest Bay of Bengal lay centred about 170 km south-southeast of Chennai and 135 km southeast of Mamallapuram. It would cross north Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and adjoining south Andhra Pradesh coasts between Puducherry and Sriharikota around Mahabalipuram as a cyclonic storm with a maximum sustained wind speed of 65-75 kmph gusting to 85 kmph during midnight of December 10, the IMD said. “The storm surge of about 0.5 m height above the astronomical tide likely to inundate low lying areas of north coastal Tamil Nadu and Puducherry during the time of landfall,” an IMD release said.
Under its influence Chennai and its adjoining districts of Thiruvallur, Chengalpattu, Kancheepuram saw intense spells of rains. On Friday in nine hours (from 9.30am to 5.30pm), Chennai received an average rainfall of 35mm with Kodaikanal registering the highest of 55mm, the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) in Chennai said.
On December 8, the average rainfall across Tamil Nadu was 4.15 mm with 36 districts having received rainfall. Nagapattinam district registered the highest with 26.6 mm rainfall, said KKSSR Ramachandran, Tamil Nadu’s revenue and disaster management minister.
The cyclone is being monitored by Doppler Weather Radar at Karaikal and Chennai. Within three hours after landfall, Mandous is very likely to weaken into a deep depression, the IMD said. Any structural damage is not expected over the interior districts of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. However, the heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely at isolated places over districts of north interior Tamil Nadu, Rayalaseema and adjoining districts of south Interior Karnataka on December 10.
Tamil Nadu’s chief secretary Irai Anbu chaired a meeting on Thursday to assess preparedness for the cyclonic storm and instructed all district authorities to evacuate people from low lying areas and ensure uninterrupted supply of essential commodities, the government said. “Important decisions were taken during this meeting and all departments have been told to be on alert for the next 24-hours,” said minister for health and family welfare M Subramanian.
More than 5000 relief camps across the state have been readied to relocate people from low-lying areas. Personnel from the department of highways, water resources, electricity board, fire services have been asked to be ready to be on the field for rescue and relief operations. This is besides the 400 personnel from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) have been deputed to districts of Chennai, Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Cuddalore, Mayiladuthurai, Thiruvallur, Kanchipuram, Chengalpattu and Villupuram.
Anticipating tree falls due to strong winds, the Greater Chennai Corporation, has readied 272 tree cutters, vehicle mounted and hydraulic tree cutters and a JCB per area to remove fallen trees. 805 motor pumps have been kept in flood-prone areas. 10 personnel will be on standby in each of Chennai’s wards for emergencies. 169 relief camps have been opened for people from low lying areas to be evacuated.