VIDEO: Cyclone Nivar wreaks havoc in Tamil Nadu
Fishermen move a fishing boat to a safer place along the shore before Cyclone Nivar's landfall, in Chennai. P. Ravikumar/Reuters
Nirmala Joseph, Correspondent
A severe cyclone slammed into India's southern coast early on Thursday, uprooting trees and power lines, but there was little loss of life or extensive damage to property.
Cyclone Nivar made landfall near the city of Puducherry in the southern state of Tamil Nadu with winds of up to 130 km per hour (81 miles per hour), according to the India Meteorological Department.
Heavy rains triggered by the storm caused flooding in some streets of the city of Chennai, Tamil Nadu's largest city which is home to many large automobile manufacturers, according to witnesses.
Nivar will prevail for six hours after crossing the coast, the Met said.
The authorities also opened a major reservoir in Chennai for the first time in five years, as it brimmed early on Wednesday due to incessant rain.
Several parts of the city have been flooded, bringing life to standstill. Many families have been shifted to safer places.
The Indian Army said its rescue and humanitarian assistance teams have been deployed in Tamil Nadu. The Navy said its forces are ready to handle any emergency.
Officials at the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) in Chennai said on Wednesday that Nivar, which was positioned over southwest Bay of Bengal, moved west-northwestwards with a speed of 11 kilometres per hour early in the day and lay centred over southwest Bay of Bengal, about 380 km south southeast of Chennai, 290 km east-southeast of Cuddalore, and about 300 km east southeast of Puducherry.
“It is likely to move northwestwards and cross Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coasts between Karaikal and Mamallapuram around Puducherry during midnight of today (Wednesday) and early hours of tomorrow as a very severe cyclonic storm with a wind speed of 120-130 kmph gusting to 145 kmph,” the RMC said.
“Under its influence, fairly widespread to widespread rains and thunderstorm activity is very likely over coastal and north interior Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal, south coastal Andhra Pradesh and Rayalaseema for two days. The rain will continue and increase step by step. As the eye of the cyclone approaches, we will be receiving more rainfall.”
The sea is very rough. High Tidal waves in the range of 3.0-5.8 metres are forecast till 2330 hrs along the coast of Northern Tamil Nadu from Point Calimer to Pulicat.
Authorities opened the sluice gates of the Chembarambakkam reservoir, one of the five that stores and supplies drinking water to Chennai. At 22 feet early in the day, it was filling up fast to its full level of 24 feet. Around 1,000 cusecs of water was released at 12pm. Official sources said flood warning was issued to people in low lying areas along Adyar river and surplus courses such as Kundrathur,
Sirukalathur, Tirumudivakkam and Tiruneermalai. Also, people living in low lying areas in Saidapet and Nandanam were evacuated to safe places.
The Adyar river has been widened to carry up to 100,000 cusecs in the downstream stretch near Saidapet, officials said.
The Public Works Department has said that 167 lakes in Kanchipuram and Chengalpattu districts have been flooded due to the increase in rain water supply.
The city has been receiving heavy rainfall since Tuesday morning and water logging was reported in several parts of the city and suburbs.
Rain waters also inundated several apartments in the city and even entered several houses. Several populated neighbourhoods, including Parrys Corner and Vyasarpadi were flooded.
Civic authorities were engaged in pumping out stagnated waters in the city and uprooted tree branches were being cleared by cutting them with machines.
Several subways in the city were also inundated and arterial roads were water-logged causing hardship to two-wheeler riders.
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Chennai airport said the departure and arrival of 12 flights have been cancelled in view of the cyclone. Flights to Kannur, Kozhikode, Vijayawada, Tiruchi, Thoothukudi, Bengaluru, Mangaluru and Hubli were cancelled.
The Metropolitan Transport Corporation operated very limited services in the city. Several south-bound express trains were cancelled along with the suburban EMU train services were suspended from 10am in the morning.
The Indian Army is ready to assist the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry to tackle the storm, a Defence statement said. Twelve Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) teams and two Engineer Task Force units are ready for deployment.
Indian Navy is also closely monitoring its movement. Headquarters, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry Naval Area is in constant touch with the State Admin officials to render assistance as required.
Ships, aircraft, rescue and diving teams have been kept standby, it said.
Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami appealed to people to stay indoors as far as possible and said over 4,000 “vulnerable” locations had been identified and local officials have been told to ensure peoples’ safety.
