Cyclone Fengal: 500 mm 'historic' rains hammer Puducherry, TN's Villupuram; UT struggles with flooding
CHENNAI: The cyclonic storm 'Fengal', which made landfall late Saturday, delivered Puducherry its heaviest rainfall in decades and unleashed record downpours in Tamil Nadu's Villupuram district.
The India Meteorological Department said on Sunday that Fengal remained stationary near Puducherry and would gradually weaken by afternoon.
Automatic weather stations in Mailam (Villupuram) and Puducherry have recorded 504 mm and 490 mm of rainfall respectively till 7.15 am on Sunday. Similarly, Chennai received over 18cm of rainfall in 24 hours from Friday evening to 5.30 pm on Saturday.
This was the highest rainfall received by Puducherry, which had received 21 cm rainfall on October 31, 2004. This is also higher than the 494 mm rainfall Chennai had received in 2015, which led to a massive delgue that crippled the city.
Puducherry paralysed, rescue ops underway
‘Fengal’ made landfall between Karaikal and Mahabalipuram close to Puducherry on Saturday night, bringing very heavy rain to districts along the north Tamil Nadu coast, including Chennai.
The cyclone triggered heavy rainfall leading to inundation of all residential areas on the outskirts of Puducherry's boulevard limits. Trees were uprooted at various places under the impact of the cyclonic storm. Power outage was reported in most of the localities since 11 pm on Saturday.
All shops and business establishments remained closed.
Main thoroughfares and arterial roads were waterlogged disrupting daily life. Farmlands with standing crops bore the brunt of the heavy rain.
Many housing colonies were waterlogged and residents could not step out of the dwellings for hours together. Two-wheelers and cars parked on roads partially submerged in rainwater that entered several houses here.
The government set up relief centers to accommodate people evacuated from low-lying areas.
Senior citizens opined that such fury of nature was witnessed over three decades ago in the union territory.
Transport services were hit and voluntary organisations like Pondicherry Heritage Round Table 167 volunteered to supplement the efforts of the government to supply food packets to people staying in relief camps.
Officials said rescue operations are underway in multiple affected areas and hundreds of residents were evacuated from flood-hit areas. The operations have been conducted efficiently with the coordinated efforts of the local administration, police forces, Army and specialized rescue teams.
Rain threat remains
Heavy rain warnings remain in place for Villupuram, Cuddalore, Kallakurichi, Tiruvannamalai, and Puducherry on Sunday.
According to the latest update received from the met office, the storm over north Tamil Nadu and Puducherry remained stationary for past six hours and lay centered over the same region close to Puducherry about 30 km north of Cuddalore, 40 km east of Villupuram and 120 km south-southwest of Chennai.
"It is likely to move westwards slowly and weaken gradually into a deep depression over north coastal Tamil Nadu and Puducherry during the next 6 hours. The system is being continuously monitored," S Balachandran, director, Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) said.
The RMC said the spiral bands associated with the cyclone had touched land at 6.30 pm and would cross the coast over the next 3 to 4 hours, with a wind speed of 70-80kmph gusting up to 90kmph. The storm was continuously monitored by the doppler weather radar at Chennai.
Balachandran told reporters that it was a very dynamic cyclonic storm constantly changing moving speeds. "As per the latest ocean satellite data, the landfall process might take several hours for the eye of the storm to completely move inland," he said.
Officials said all the important lake catchment areas in and around Chennai received good rains boosting the level of water in reservoirs. The rains were not threatening as they occurred in intermittent spells. The rainfall ranged from 10cm to 13cm in most of the weather stations.
In Chennai, the highest rainfall of 13.2cm was recorded by the automatic weather station at Jaya Engineering College, followed by Meenambakkam with 11.4cm, and Nungambakkam with 10.4cm. Puducherry, where the landfall took place, recorded 10.4cm, while the Mailam station in Villupuram recorded 13.6cm. This data is from the 8.30 am to 5.30 pm window on Saturday and the weather by and large cleared up thereafter.
On Sunday, rainfall is expected over Villupuram, Kallakuruchi and Cuddalore districts and Puducherry, where a red alert has been issued.
Chennai, Tiruvallur, Chengalpattu, Kancheepuram, Ranipet, Tiruvannamalai, Dharmapuri, Salem, Ariyalur, Perambalur, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam and Mayiladuthurai districts and Karaikal region will also experience some showers, the Met said.
Weathermen said squally wind of 55kmph to 65kmph speed, gusting to 75kmph, would persist over north Tamil Nadu coast and wind with speed of 35kmph to 45kmph, gusting to 55 kmph, will prevail over south Tamil Nadu coast, adjoining Comorin area and the Gulf of Mannar.
Windy conditions would continue to prevail till December 3, and consequently, fishermen have been advised not to venture out into the sea during this period.
(With additional inputs from Agencies, Online Desk)
