Chennai: Heavy rains with strong winds lashed parts of Chennai as cyclone Mandous made landfall between northern Tamil Nadu and Puducherry with wind speeds gusting to 70 km/hr. Parts of Tamil Nadu saw waterlogging as heavy showers started pounding the state from Friday evening.
The cyclone made landfall around 10.30 pm on Friday and crossed the coast near Mamallapuram (Mahabalipuram) in Tamil Nadu around 1.30 am, uprooting hundreds of trees in Chengalpattu and neighbouring Chennai.
Ahead of the landfall, 16 flights at the Chennai airport were cancelled due to bad weather. These included three international flights. “Passengers are requested to check with concerned airline(s) for further updates,” tweeted Chennai International Airport.
Chennai received upto 115 mm of rain. “Around 200 trees have fallen and we have been clearing them since night,” said Gagandeep Singh, Commissioner, Greater Chennai Corporation. He added “major damage has been averted as we had secured many hoardings early”. The city also witnessed waterlogging. As work clearing fallen trees is underway, Chennai city and Chengalpattu districts are facing power cuts.
On the intensity scale, it was earlier classified as ‘Severe Cyclonic Storm’, the fourth highest, meaning winds of 89-117 km per hour. It has since come down to ‘Cyclonic Storm’ with winds at 62-88 km/hour. (The most extreme type is ‘Super Cyclonic Storm’, with winds at 222+ km an hour.)
