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India braces for cyclone Ditwah after havoc in Sri Lanka
In neighbouring Sri Lanka, close to 20,000 homes had been destroyed and over 100,000 people were moved to government shelters.
Authorities rushed 28 disaster response teams and set up 6,000 relief camps in Tamil Nadu as the cyclone Ditwah, which has killed at least 153 people and left nearly 200 missing in Sri Lanka, inched closer to the country’s southeastern coast – with its hardest impact forecast to arrive on Sunday. Chennai airport cancelled 54 flights and the railways activated a war room as authorities prepared for damaging winds, lashing rain and storm surges.
The India Meteorological Department issued a red alert for parts of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, warning of extremely heavy rain over Cuddalore, Nagapattinam, Mayiladuthurai, Villuppuram, and Chengalpattu districts, and the Puducherry-Karaikal region.
At 10pm on Saturday, the cyclone was centred 80km southeast of Vedaranyam, 100km southeast of Karaikal, 190km south-southeast of Puducherry, and 290km south of Chennai.
The storm was forecasted to travel north-northwest and arrive over the southwest Bay of Bengal, close to North Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and adjoining south Andhra Pradesh coasts, by early Sunday morning. As it moves in that direction, the cyclonic storm will be positioned over the southwest Bay of Bengal, approximately 25 km from the Tamil Nadu-Puducherry coastline, by Sunday evening.
“It is a cyclone with maximum wind speed presently 70 to 80 kmph. We are expecting same wind speed to prevail until Sunday morning,” said M Mohapatra, director general of the India Meteorological Department. “These wind speeds are not that high but they can have large-scale impact on standing crops. There can be inundation of low lying areas. Storm surge of half to 1m is likely tonight.”
In neighbouring Sri Lanka, which lay on the path of the storm, close to 20,000 homes had been destroyed and over 100,000 people were moved to government shelters.
Mohapatra said Ditwah will not cross the Indian coast but will pass offshore. “There can be widespread impact on traffic. Fishermen should not venture out because sea condition is high,” he said, adding that coastal Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and south Andhra Pradesh will bear the brunt of the storm.
An IMD update shared late on Saturday stated that the closest point of the cyclone’s centre will be roughly 25km from the shore on Sunday evening.
State revenue and disaster management minister KKSSR Ramachandran said the state deployed 28 disaster response teams, including SDRF and NDRF units, across affected districts. Airlines issued travel advisories as flight operations were disrupted.
According to the IMD’s forecast, most places in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, coastal Andhra Pradesh-Yanam and Rayalseema will receive light to moderate rainfall, with isolated locations seeing extremely heavy rainfall exceeding 20cm. The weather office forecast heavy rainfall across parts of Andhra Pradesh for four days from November 30 to December 3. Telangana will see light to moderate rainfall with heavy rain at isolated places on Sunday.
The extreme weather is expected to ease to light to moderate rain in many places, though heavy rainfall may continue at isolated locations on December 1 and Monday.
India also deployed two specialised NDRF teams to Sri Lanka on Saturday to support search, rescue and relief operations in regions affected by Ditwah. The country has sent around 21 tonnes of relief materials in two military transport aircraft under Operation Sagar Bandhu, a day after delivering a first tranche of over six tonnes of essential supplies.
The Indian high commission in Colombo set up an emergency help desk at Bandaranaike International Airport to assist stranded Indian citizens. “In the wake of severe air traffic disruptions, Indian passengers facing difficulties are being provided food, water and other assistance,” the high commission said on X.
In Sri Lanka, the death toll from severe floods and mudslides triggered by Ditwah rose to 153, with 191 people still missing. The island nation declared a state of emergency and sought international aid after the cyclone destroyed over 20,000 homes and displaced 108,000 people to government shelters, according to the Disaster Management Centre. Another 798,000 people required assistance due to flooding, with President Anura Kumara Dissanayake invoking emergency powers to manage recovery efforts.
Over 24,000 troops are engaged in rescue operations, having saved 2,453 people and relocated 43,000 to 488 relief centres. In Pannala, flooding swept away 25 residents from an elderly care home; 14 were rescued. Search and rescue operations continue amid reports of people buried alive in the central and southwest provinces.
Sri Lanka’s Meteorology department director general Athula Karunanayake said direct cyclone impacts have eased but indirect effects will persist. “Rainfall exceeding 100mm is possible in some areas of the northern, north central, north eastern, and central provinces, while the western and Sabaragamuwa provinces are expected to receive rainfall exceeding 50mm,” he said.
Scores of areas in the central province remain cut off without road access, with mobile phone systems breaking down due to lack of electricity, officials said. The Sri Lankan Army said 68 people trapped on a bus in the northwestern province’s Kalaoya area were rescued by the navy early Saturday morning in an operation that lasted several hours.
“The NDRF headquarters is conducting continuous monitoring and coordination with the India Meteorological Department, National Disaster Management Authority, state governments, the Ministry of External Affairs and other agencies to ensure a seamless response both at home and abroad,” said NDRF DIG(Operations) Mohsen Shahedi.
(With inputs from agencies)
