Over 120k people evacuated as TN braces for Nivar
CHENNAI/NEW DELHI: Tens of thousands of people fled their homes in low-lying areas of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and moved to evacuation shelters on Wednesday to escape a cyclone that was barreling toward the south Indian coast.
Cyclone Nivar is expected to bring heavy downpours after slamming ashore, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. The storm, with sustained winds of 120 kmph and gusts of up to 145 kmph, is likely to damage crops, trees, houses and electrical poles, it said in a statement.
Nivar over southwest Bay of Bengal intensified into a very severe cyclonic storm and lay centred at 2.30 pm on Wednesday over southwest Bay of Bengal, about 90 km east-southeast of Cuddalore, about 150 km east-southeast of Puducherry and 220 km south-southeast of Chennai. It is very likely to move the northwest direction and cross Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coasts between Karaikal and Mamallapuram at night.
“Its difficult to give a specific time. But it’s likely to cross the coast between midnight and 2 am,” said Sunitha Devi, in charge of cyclones at IMD.
SN Pradhan, director of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), said thousands of emergency personnel have been deployed in coastal regions of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry.
Until Tuesday afternoon, the forecast was that Nivar would cross the Tamil Nadu coast on Wednesday afternoon as a severe cyclonic storm. But the cyclone intensified rapidly, according to independent scientists.
“A delay was seen in landfall timing owing to rather slow movement of the cyclone. But there is no change from the expected intensity of very severe cyclone, during the time of landfall. The slow movement is due to lighter steering winds as well as due to change in direction of movement, as had been predicted,” said Devi.
In Tamil Nadu’s capital, Chennai, authorities said they are closely monitoring the level of reservoirs and lakes to avoid a repeat of floods in 2015, when nearly 430 people died in the state. Flights at Chennai airport were suspended from 7pm on Wednesday until 7am on Thursday.
Areas in and around Chennai witnessed intense spells of rain, accompanied by strong winds on Wednesday. Chief minister Edappadi Palaniswami, who had declared
Wednesday as a public holiday, ordered that Thursday too would be a holiday in 13 districts.
A government order included three more districts considering the safety of people in view of the cyclone. The CM also halted bus services, advised fishermen not venture to sea and asked people to stay indoors.
Revenue minister RB Udhayakumar said 103,291 people including children have been housed in 1,000 relief centres. Food, water and all other essentials, including masks to help prevent the coronavirus, have been made available to them in the relief centres, he said.
As a precautionary measure, electricity distribution was stopped to consumers in several regions falling under such districts and especially areas that have overhead power transmission lines witnessed power cut since noon.
Civic authorities meanwhile removed banners and hoardings in several districts including Chennai and Vellore expecting squally winds. Police personnel placed barricades in arterial roads and important intersections in coastal districts to bar movement of vehicles.
Southern Railway said eight trains were diverted skipping Chennai and 10 trains were cancelled.
Vessels in the Chennai port have been moved to sea and port operations were ordered to be shut until the cyclone makes landfall, a senior port official said.
Chennai and its suburbs, which received heavy overnight rains, continued to witness intermittent showers coupled with strong winds with low-lying areas getting inundated and water entering houses in such localities.
The cyclone warning issued by IMD on Wednesday evening was upgraded to “red” category from “orange” owing to the damage and extremely heavy rainfall expected in the region.
Even after landfall, the cyclone is likely to maintain its intensity for about six hours and then weaken gradually. Under its influence, rainfall at many places with heavy to very heavy falls at a few places and extremely heavy falls (over 20 cm) are likely to occur over Ranipet,
Tiruvannamalai, Tirupattur, Vellore districts of Tamil Nadu and Chittoor, Kurnool, Prakasam, Cuddappa districts of Andhra Pradesh, as well as the adjoining southeast Telangana region on November 26.
THE CYCLONE WARNING ISSUED BY IMD ON WEDNESDAY EVENING WAS UPGRADED TO “RED” CATEGORY FROM “ORANGE” OWING TO THE DAMAGE AND EXTREMELY HEAVY RAINFALL EXPECTED IN THE REGION.