The “very severe cyclonic storm” Nivar has weakened into a “severe cyclonic storm”, and has crossed the coast near Puducherry, the India Meteorological Department said on Thursday, 26 November.
The very severe cyclonic storm Nivar began its landfall close to the Puducherry coast after 10:30 pm on Wednesday. Its centre was supposed to cross the coast near the Union Territory in three hours’ time, the India Meteorological Department said.
In its bulletin issued at 10:30 pm, the IMD measured wind speed of 120-130 kmph gusting at 145 kmph.
The government has decided to declare a public holiday in 16 districts of the state on Thursday.
The cyclone, centered 50 km east of Cuddalore, 40 km southeast of Puducherry and 120 km southeast of Chennai, has been moving at a speed of 16 kmph for the past six hours and is being monitored by the Doppler Weather Radars at Chennai, Karaikal and Sriharikota.
Even after landfall, the system is likely to maintain its cyclone intensity for about six hours and weaken gradually.
Under its influence, heavy to very heavy rainfalls at a few places and isolated extremely heavy rainfalls are likely to occur over Ranipet, Tiruvannamalai, Tirupattur, Vellore districts of Tamil Nadu and Chittoor, Kurnool, Prakasam and Cuddappa districts of Andhra Pradesh.
Rescue Teams on Alert, Chennai Airport Shut
Like Tamil Nadu, the Puducherry government, too, has announced Thursday as a public holiday. The Chennai airport has been shut from 7 pm to 7 am on Thursday. Metro and train services have also been suspended.
The News Minute reported on Wednesday that the greater Chennai traffic police has decided to close all major routes across different zones in the city. The roads will remain closed until further notice to facilitate rescue and relief operations.
According to the report, this includes Kamarajar road off Marina beach, East Coast road (ECR), Old Mahabalipuram road (OMR) and the Ennore express Highway.
A total of 25 teams from National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been deployed on the coastal areas of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Andhra Pradesh.
Over 1 lakh people have been evacuated from Tamil Nadu, Puducherry in view of Cyclone Nivar.
(With inputs from IANS and The News Minute.)
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