At least three people were killed in rain-related incidents as Cyclone Fengal made landfall on south India’s eastern coast, uprooting trees and flooding roads.
The cyclone made landfall near the union territory of Puducherry on Saturday night, bringing heavy downpour to Tamil Nadu state. Capital Chennai received over 18cm of rainfall in 24 hours from Friday to Saturday evening, the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) said.
The cyclone is forecast to gradually weaken into a deep depression, it added.
“It is likely to move westwards slowly and weaken gradually into a deep depression over north coastal Tamil Nadu and Puducherry during the next six hours. The system is being continuously monitored,” S Balachandran, director of RMC, said.
Mr Balachandran added that it was a very dynamic cyclonic storm constantly changing moving speeds, according to the New Indian Express.
The Chennai international airport, which grounded all flights for 16 hours due to flooding of the taxiway and cross winds, resumed operations on Sunday. More than 100 flights which included departures and arrivals were cancelled, while dozens of Chennai-bound flights were diverted to Bengaluru city.
The airport said it arranged special bus service for passengers to provide “safe and reliable transportation, ensuring that travellers can reach their destinations despite the adverse weather”.
The Indian military was pressed into action to rescue more than 100 people in flooded areas in Puducherry on Saturday as local officials opened the gates of private and government schools and colleges for shelter.
A man was electrocuted at an ATM in Chennai during heavy rains, NDTV reported.
A 45-year-old man was electrocuted in Chennai after a high-tension cable fell on him during the rains and another man died while pumping stagnated water. The state authorities said compensation has been announced for the three people electrocuted.
Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin declared a holiday for all education institutions, urged companies to permit employees to work from home and suspended public transportation on certain roads in the east of Chennai city.
About 471 people were forced to evacuated from low-lying parts of the city, according to reports.
A red alert has been sounded in at least seven districts of Tamil Nadu with warnings of heavy to very heavy rainfall in the next 24 hours.
Meanwhile, the adverse weather from the deep depression over the southwest Bay of Bengal has claimed the lives of 15 people in Sri Lanka. Over 450,000 people have been hit by floods, strong winds, and earth-slips in the island nation, the country’s disaster management centre said on Saturday.
Severe storms pummel the coasts of India and neighbouring Bangladesh and Sri Lanka during the cyclone season from April to December each year, damaging both life and property.
However, scientists have warned that storms are becoming more powerful due to the warming of oceans as a result of the climate crisis.
