Cyclone Mandous leaves roads waterlogged, uproots trees in Chennai
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Saturday announced that the severe cyclonic storm "Mandous" has weakened into a deep depression over the northern coast of Tamil Nadu. Cyclone Mandous made its much-anticipated landfall late Friday night, with a reported wind speed of 75km/h. As a result of the landfall, strong cyclonic winds uprooted hundreds of trees in Chennai and neighboring Chengalpattu.
Why does this story matter?
The cyclonic storm Mandous has been named by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), an associate of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO). In Arabic, the name is pronounced as "Man-Dous" and stands for "treasure box." As per IMD, the three states under red alerts for cyclone Mandous were Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Puducherry (Union Territory).
Details on Cyclone Mandous landfall
As forecasted, Cyclone Mandous began making its landfall at approximately 10:30 pm on Friday and crossed the coast near Tamil Nadu's Mamallapuram (Mahabalipuram) at around 1:30 am. Following the landfall near Mamallapuram, numerous parts of Chennai have been experiencing heavy downpours and strong winds. S Balachandran, Deputy DG of Meteorology, Regional Meteorology Centre, said the wind speed was almost 14km/h.
Cyclone Mandous to move west-northwestward: IMD
Taking to Twitter on Saturday morning, the weather department wrote: "The cyclonic storm MANDOUS weakened into a Deep Depression over north [Tamil Nadu] coast. To move nearly west-northwestwards and gradually weaken into a depression by noon of 10th December (sic)."
IMD provides update on cyclone
200 trees fell due to cyclone: Chennai civic body chief
Greater Chennai Corporation Commissioner Gagandeep Singh said the city received nearly 115mm of rainfall. "Around 200 trees have fallen, and we have been clearing them since night," Singh said. He also added, "Major damage has been averted as we had secured many hoardings early." Parts of Chennai and the Chengalpattu districts have been facing power cuts since the cyclone made landfall.
Visuals of Chennai after cyclone's landfall
Schools, colleges shut; flights canceled
As a precautionary measure against the cyclone, the Tamil Nadu government announced a holiday on Friday for all schools and colleges. The Chennai International Airport also called off all flights on Friday and notified passengers to get in touch with the concerned airlines for any updates. The civic body of Chennai also instructed all parks and playgrounds to be closed until further notice.
NDRF teams deployed in 10 TN districts
Apart from stationing the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) squads in 10 districts, the Tamil Nadu government also opened over 5,000 relief centers as a precautionary measure for Cyclone Mandous. These districts include Mayiladuthurai, Chennai, Thiruvarur, Thanjavur, Cuddalore, and Nagapattinam. As per reports, nearly 1,058 families have moved to 28 such centers in the Chengalpattu district alone.
