Tamil Nadu receives moderate to heavy rainfall due to Cyclone Mandous

Chennai:

The northern coast of Tamil Nadu witnessed light to moderate rainfall and heavy showers in places as cyclonic storm ‘Mandous’ moved closer to the coast of the state and is expected to cross the coast here from midnight, the Meteorological Department of India reports (IMD) said on Friday.

Impacted by the cyclonic storm, widespread rainfall—light to moderate and heavy rainfall— fell on December 9 in coastal areas and other parts of the state. An IMD official said Kodaikanal recorded 5 CM rains. People in vulnerable areas are housed in shelters.

Head of the IMD Regional Meteorological Center S. Balachandran told reporters that 12 cyclones have crossed the coast between Chennai and Puducherry in the past 130 years between 1891 and 2021. cross the coast (between Chennai and Puducherry).” In the disaster management control room here, Prime Minister MK Stalin assessed preparedness through interaction with supervisory and state officials.

“Heavy rains are predicted by midnight,” he told an official in Kancheepuram and instructed her to handle the situation accordingly. The prime minister later told reporters that all appropriate steps have been taken to deal with the situation and protect the people. First Secretary V Irai Anbu chaired a meeting of senior officials and discussed preparatory measures.

As many as 16,000 police officers and 1,500 home security guards are deployed here for security, relief and rescue duties, and a 40-person TN State Disaster Response Force team, in addition to 12 District Disaster Response Force teams, are on standby, police said here.

Already nearly 400 personnel from the NDRF and State Disaster Response Force teams are stationed in coastal areas, including those near the Cauvery delta areas.

The IMD said Doppler weather radars are monitoring the cyclone, which weakened to a cyclonic storm on Dec. 9 after being a severe cyclonic storm for less than 24 hours. It was about 135km southeast of Mamallapuram (7:30pm Friday), Balachandran said.

The cyclonic storm is very likely to cross the coast at Mamallapuram as a cyclonic storm with maximum sustained winds of 65-75 km/h, gusting to 85 km/h, during midnight and early hours of Saturday.

Mamallapuram, also known as Mahabalipuram, is about 50 km from here.

Mandous, pronounced ‘mand-dous’ is an Arabic word meaning treasury and the name is said to have been chosen by the United Arab Emirates.

The rain has caused some disruption to bus services due to flooding and at least 13 flights from here have been cancelled. Trains, including suburban services, were operated. Transport Minister SS Sivasankar said bus services in and around Mamallapuram and the East Coast Road would be suspended for two hours before and after the cyclone landfall. Buses are running as usual in coastal districts of Chennai, Chengelpet, Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur, Cuddalore and Villupuram, he said.

Schools and colleges are closed in coastal areas and a holiday has also been declared for educational institutions on Saturday.

On December 10, rainfall is likely to ease in most places, although it is expected to be heavy to very heavy in isolated areas in northern inland Tamil Nadu, Rayalaseema and adjacent southern Andhra Pradesh.

After landfall, the cyclonic storm will lose intensity and become a deep depression on December 10 and a depression later.

“Gale wind, speed of 80-90 km/h, gusting to 100 km/h prevails over the southwestern Bay of Bengal,” the IMD said. It would gradually decrease from 70-80km/h gusts to 90km/h from Friday evening, 55-65km/h gusts to 75km/h by early morning December 10 and 30-40km/h gusts to 50km /u on Saturday night.

During the 24-hour period ending Friday morning, several areas here and on the outskirts witnessed heavy rainfall (7 CM) and other coastal areas including Chengelpet and Nagapattinam recorded intermittent light to moderate showers (up to 3 CM).

In neighboring Puducherry, the Territorial Administration has declared all schools and universities in Puducherry and Karaikal regions on Friday and Saturday holidays. The Department of Revenue and Disaster Management has deployed rescue teams. Prime Minister N Rangasamy held talks with top officials.

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