Tamil Nadu’s Chennai on Wednesday morning received very heavy rainfall as Cyclone Nivar is expected to intensify over the next several hours.
According to Area Cyclone Warning Centre-Chennai, the cyclone is expected to cross between Mamallapuram and Karaikal late on Wednesday with a wind speed of up to 145kmph. "Cyclone Nivar lays 350 km southeast of Chennai moving northwards and likely to intensify into severe cyclonic storm and cross between Karaikal and Mahabalipuram today late evening or night. While crossing wind speed likely to touch 145 kmph," Director, Area Cyclone Warning Centre-Chennai, told news agency ANI.
The IMD in a series of tweets on Wednesday morning said that “very heavy rainfall - 120 mm - recorded in Chennai/Minabakkam” from 8:30 am on Tuesday to 5:30 am as of Wednesday.
“It is very likely to move west-northwestwards for the next 06 hours and northwestwards thereafter; cross Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coasts between Karaikal and Mamallapuram during the night of 25th Nov as a very severe cyclonic storm with wind speed 120-130 kmph gusting to 145 kmph,” it said.
“Near latitude 10.2°N and longitude 82.0°E about 300 km east-southeast of Cuddalore, about 310 km east southeast of Puducherry and 370 km south southeast of Chennai. It is very likely to intensify further into a Very Severe Cyclonic Storm during next 12 hours,” the weather bureau said in another tweet.
“The Severe Cyclonic Storm Nivar over southwest Bay of Bengal moved west-northwestwards with a speed of 06 kmph during past six hours and lay centred at 0230 hrs IST of 25th November, 2020 over southwest Bay of Bengal,” IMD further added.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami declared a statewide public holiday on Wednesday as Cyclone Nivar is expected to cross Tamil Nadu-Puducherry coasts between Karaikal and Mamallapuram.
In view of Cyclone Nivar, Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba chaired the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) meeting on Tuesday through video conferencing with the Chief Secretaries of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and Andhra Pradesh and secretaries of different ministries. Gauba assured them of all the necessary assistance to overcome this situation.
Gauba said that the aim should be to ensure that there is no loss of life, the damage is minimum, and normalcy is restored in power, telecom, and other important sectors in the shortest possible time.
(With inputs from Agencies)
