Was Vardah the Most Powerful Cyclone to Hit Chennai Till Date?

Cyclone Vardah hit Chennai with wind speeds of 140 kmph and a maximum of 37 cm of rainfall.

(Photo: Vikram Venkateswaran/The Quint)

“It’s a miracle that the casualties are so less,” says weather blogger K Srikanth, a day after Cyclone Vardah crossed the Chennai coast.

While comparisons have been made with the 1994 cyclone that hit Chennai, Srikanth – who writes for weather blog Chennaiyil Oru Mazhaikkaalam – is adamant that Vardah, with speeds of 140 kmph, was the strongest to hit the city, till date

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Arguably the Strongest Cyclone to Hit Chennai

An IMD report from 1994 shows that the eye of the storm passed through Chennai between 1 am and 2 am on 31 October. The cyclone had then recorded a maximum windspeed of 132 kmph and rainfall of between 10 cm to 36 cm at various stations.

The cyclone created havoc in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, killing 235 and 69 persons, respectively, while also causing severe damage to houses, roads, and crops.

At wind speeds of 140 kmph and a maximum of 37 cm of rainfall (Satyabhama University, Kanchipuram), Vardah, in comparison, left four people dead, uprooted 3,384 trees and led to the suspension of flight and train services.

Cyclone Nilam, which made landfall in Mahabalipuram on 31 October 2012, recorded a maximum wind speed of 75 kmph. Although Nilam spared Chennai, it left behind a trail of destruction, killing 12 people and displacing thousands.

(Photo: Vikram Venkateswaran/The Quint)

While the IMD initially predicted that Cyclone Vardah would hit Andhra Pradesh, the meteorological department forecast on 11 December that the cyclone would cross Chennai, giving officials just over 24 hours to prepare for the storm.

“Vardah was, in fact, reclassified as a very severe cyclone in the last alert before it made landfall,” notes Srikanth. Given the scale of destruction, with over 3,300 trees uprooted and 3,400 fallen electric poles, he notes that state officials, together with the media, did a good job of disseminating information.

But given that 2016 is a La Nina year and with the monsoon expected to extend until Pongal, the weather blogger says there could be other weather disturbances this season.

Although models show a disturbance in the Bay of Bengal, it is too early to predict whether it will evolve into a depression. Weather conditions have changed after the crossing of Cyclone Vardah. But it is best to wait and watch before we hit the panic button. 

K Srikanth, weather blogger