PremiumBENGALURU : Heavy rains continue to pound the Tamil Nadu coast after cyclone Nivar made landfall near Puducherry in the early hours on Thursday, the weather officials said.
The severe cyclonic storm led to a series of disruptions - including power outages, destruction of roads and houses, shutting Chennai airport and paralysing railways - in the Union Territory and neighbouring Tamil Nadu.
Reportedly, Puducherry chief minister V Narayanaswamy’s house has also been waterlogged. Both Tamil Nadu and Puducherry have declared a public holiday for its vulnerable cities, including Chennai, on Thursday.
There were no reports of loss of life due to the cyclone so far, but damages such as incident of wall collapse were reported from some parts of Tamil Nadu, the state’s Revenue Minister R B Udhayakumar said. About 2.5 lakh people were housed in cyclone shelters in Tamil Nadu as part of safety measures, the minister said.
The pre-emptive move by the state government and the prompt messages from the weather offices have received appreciation from several quarters. Given an assembly election scheduled just a few months away, the government, already struggling to contain the rising coronavirus cases, is walking a difficult line.
Nivar, witha wind speed gusting up to 145 kmph, has weakened into “a severe cyclonic storm" from a “very severe cyclonic storm" after it started to cross the coast near Puducherry from 11.30pm on Wednesday, India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials said.
"Very severe cyclonic Storm NIVAR: weakens into a Severe Cyclonic storm," said IMD in a tweet.
In the next six hours, the severe cyclonic storm will further weaken, said Deputy Director General of Meteorology, Chennai, S Balachandran. He said rainfall is likely to continue in Tamil Nadu. "The storm now lies inside the land area. There will, however, be rainfall and strong winds as well," he said.
Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu recorded the highest rainfall at 24.6 cm, followed by 23.7 cm in Puducherry from 8.30 PM on Wednesday till 2.30 am on Thursday, Chennai 8.9 cm during the same period, said IMD.
— with inputs from PTI
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