Cyclone Michaung dumps rains in TN before its landfall in Andhra Pradesh

Chennai: Moving at a speed of 13 km per hour and packing winds with a speed of 75 kmph, Cyclone Michaung continues to drench this metropolis and three neighbouring districts with extremely heavy rains since Sunday evening.

Avadi, a suburban locality of Chennai in Tiruvallur district, recorded the highest rainfall of 25 cm in 24 hours ending at 8.30 am on Monday, while Chennai city recorded an average rainfall of 12 cm during the same period even as several areas received 20 to 22 cm of rainfall.

Trees were uprooted within the city limits and in suburban areas due to the gusty winds with electricity supply being suspended in majority of localities across Chennai and the three neighbouring districts of Tiruvallur, Chengalpattu, and Kanchipuram. Greater Chennai Police said debris of 16 trees which were uprooted were cleared while efforts are on to remove other uprooted trees.

Flight operations were severely hit at the airport due to waterlogging in the runway as at least two dozen flights from various destinations were diverted to Bengaluru.

Teams from NDRF and SDRF were involved in rescuing people whose houses were inundated due to the rising water level, even as the Tamil Nadu government and the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) appealed to people not to step out of their homes. They rescued people in Mudichur, Perungalathur, and other suburban areas where the water level was dangerously high – subways were completely flooded.

Several arterial and main roads were flooded due to the continuous rains which have been pouring with almost the same intensity since Sunday night, making it tough for people to travel within the city. Greater Chennai Police said a Green Corridor from Airport to Anna Salai is being maintained for people to use for emergency purposes, while there is a minimum of 1 feet water logging in other roads.

Television footage showed the parking area of several apartments across the city getting flooded with the risk of damage to vehicles, while several vehicles got stuck in knee-deep water in many areas. Many took to social media to share pictures of the level of flooding in their area even as 17 subways were closed for traffic due to heavy waterlogging.

“The situation is quite bad. I had a medical emergency to attend to. And what is normally a 20-minute journey took me 1.5 hours today, and every road was waterlogged,” Kumar, a software professional, told DH. The IMD said extremely heavy rainfall will continue to lash the city and its suburbs till Monday evening.

Southern Railway cancelled suburban train services and suspended rail traffic on a bridge connecting Basin Bridge junction with Vyasarpadi on the Chennai-Vijayawada-New Delhi/Kolkata rail route.

Chennai Metro Rail Corporation (CMRL) continued to run its operations though it asked commuters not to board trains from St. Thomas Mount due to waterlogging at its access point, while the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) suspended most of its bus services due to flooding of its depots.

The IMD said several parts of the city experienced more than 10 cm rainfall in 24 hours —- Kodambakkam in the city received over 12 cm, Ambattur (10.8 cm), Teynampet (11 cm), and Nungambakkam (10 cm). It added that most parts of the city were experiencing gusty winds with Ennore recording 75 kmph and Nungambakkam 65 kmph.

The government has already declared a public holiday in Chennai, Tiruvallur, Kanchipuram, and Chengalpattu districts on Monday in view of the heavy rains. The state government too sent out text messages asking people not to step out of their homes.

Independent weather blogger Pradeep John said there were no words to explain the carnage. “The cyclone outer edge is grazing the Chennai coast. West clouds remain adamant and are remaining over Chennai. The slow movement will dump huge amounts of rain over Chennai till today evening/night,” he added.

The IMD has forecast extremely heavy rains for the whole of Monday under the influence of the cyclone. It said the Cyclonic storm lay centered about 210 km east-northeast of Puducherry, 150 km east-southeast of Chennai, 250 km southeast of Nellore, 360 km south-southeast of Bapatla and 380 km south-southeast of Machilipatnam.

It is likely to continue to move north-northwestwards, intensify further and reach Westcentral Bay Of Bengal off south Andhra Pradesh and adjoining north Tamil Nadu coasts by December 4 forenoon, the IMD said.

“Thereafter, it would move nearly northwards almost parallel and close to south Andhra Pradesh coast and cross South Andhra Pradesh coast between Nellore and Machilipatnam during forenoon of December 5 as a Severe Cyclonic Storm with a maximum sustained wind speed of 90-100 kmph gusting to 110 kmph,” the IMD added.

Independent weather blogger, who tweets under the handle Chennai Rains on X platform, said as Cyclone Michaung is gradually moving up, Chennai and suburbs are currently under the most sustained and heaviest spell of rains.

“This is expected to continue for the next couple of hours. Some reduction may happen during morning hours but complete stop is unlikely. Do not step outside unless it is essential as strong gusts of winds affect most parts of North coastal Tamil Nadu,” it said in an early morning update.