No Flights will Land or take off at the Chennai airport for 12 hours from 7 pm on Wednesday and metro services too will be suspended, authorities said ahead of Cyclone Nivar’s landfall. Coastal Tamil Nadu and Puducherry are bracing for Cyclone Nivar, which has intensified into a “very severe cyclonic storm” and is barrelling towards the southeast coast.
The meteorological department said the powerful cyclone was expected to hit the coast, near Puducherry, most likely in the middle of the night or early morning. The cyclone could hit the coast between Mamallapuram in Tamil Nadu (which is about 56 km from the state capital, Chennai) and Karikal in Puducherry.
Nivar caused torrential rains and strong winds off the coast of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted to assure the governments of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, both of which said that today is a public holiday, of all possible support. Prime Minister E. Pallaniswamy announced that tomorrow a holiday has been declared in 13 districts in Tamil Nadu, including Chennai.
Severe Cyclonic Storm “NIVAR” over southwest Bay of Bengal,to cross Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coasts between Karaikal and Mamallapuram around Puducherry during mid-night of 25th and early hours of 26th November 2020 as a very severe cyclonic storm pic.twitter.com/GUdyVMJnno
— India Meteorological Department (@Indiametdept) November 25, 2020
The cyclone “NIVAR” will bring extremely heavy rainfall and winds between 120 and 130 km per hour, with gusts of up to 145 km per hour, the Regional Meteorological Centre in Chennai has advised, adding that coastal areas could receive heavy rain till tomorrow. 1, 000 cusecs surplus water will be released from the Chembarambakkam lake outside Chennai this noon. The discharge is likely to increase the water flow in Chennai’s Adyar river and people living in low-lying areas along the river are being evacuated. Authorities, however, said there is no need for panic at the moment. Around 2,000 people have been evacuated to higher grounds from Tamil Nadu’s Cuddalore district.
